Journey of Discovery
by ParadigmShifter
Summary: COMPLETE! Diverges from Season 2- Xander argues with Buffy about Angel(us) and takes the law into his own hands. Not really for B/Xer's. Now Complete. Updated and Edited so sequel will work...
1. Journey of Discovery: Edited and Final

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss, WB, UPN etc own everything. My life sucks.

Title: Journey of Discovery: Path to Pain.

Rating: Brit: 15 US of A: R (I think).

Author: Paradigm Shifter.

Feedback: Please, I beg.

Notes: British spelling and grammar. I have no experience of decent hospitals, as the NHS is, frankly, shit. Thought of the day: Go in a British hospital; come out worse than you went in.

Pairing: No real pairing. VERY slight B/A, B/X hinting.

Continuity: Diverges from "Becoming" Season 2 of Buffy.

Starts in the Athcatla room before Angelus can open the portal.

Thoughts in Italics

*

Buffy had finally cornered Angel in the room that housed Athcatla. Even though the vampire had lost his soul, becoming once more the evil Angelus, his former lover would never call him by that name while there was still hope for his salvation; to Buffy, he remained Angel. Tossing a blade in his direction, she readied her own, and was not prepared for him to refuse to pick it up.

"Very well, Angel, if you insist on not defending yourself," she said, her still nascent love for the vampire showed in her words. Angelus remained stubbornly silent. Buffy lunged, though the long-sword she was using had greater reach than the short-sword she was used to using, the weight of the blade made her lunge off target, and Angelus side-stepped the attack, replying with a quick swipe of his own from his claw-like hands.

Dropping to the floor and rolling, Buffy managed to avoid the blow aimed at her neck and got back to her feet, preparing for a further assault.

It never came.

In the few seconds that Angel had been out of her sight while she was rolling, the vampire had disappeared. Lowering the blade, Buffy stepped forward, allowing Angelus to drop behind her and wrench the sword out of her hand, simultaneously pinning her to the floor.

Buffy was scared. Scared because her lover was pinning her to the floor without a hint of mercy in his eyes. She could only hope that he would kill her outright, rather than turn her. 

_No. Don't even think that. Start thinking like that and he will do it, just because he can see the fear in your eyes._

It hurt the most because it was a bloodthirsty killer wearing the face of the one man she had loved since becoming the Slayer. 

_Although, she reflected, __I probably haven't given very many a chance. _

Smiling evilly all the time, Angelus pressed down on Buffy's neck, quickly making her vision spin and as she finally blacked out from lack of oxygen, the last thing she heard was, 

"Goodbye, lover. I'll call ya."

Smiling down at the prone form of the Slayer, Angelus kissed her on the lips and stood, then as the demon raged at not killing the Slayer, he spat on her face and stalked out, to rest and relax before the final preparations for Athcatla, the bringer of Hell on Earth.

*

Xander was panic-stricken. He was waiting outside for Buffy to finish and call him in to help tidy up the mess, never something he was very happy about, but with the soldier spirit inside him begging to get in the battle, he was being torn with need to join the battle and want to follow his friends advice and to stay alive. 

_But enough is enough, thought Xander, as he crept toward the entrance Buffy had gone into, almost half an hour ago. As he crept forward, he reviewed the last few minutes, there had been no sound of battle after the first 10 minutes, and wondered if Buffy had won and wanted to be alone in her grief, __never a good idea, thought Xander, or if she had lost and even now Angelus had drained her and was waiting for her "White Knight" to show before her snapped her neck, or even worse, turned her._

Xander got to the room containing Athcatla, easily the largest room in the mansion, and peeked in. Not seeing any vampires he looked round properly, and gasped as he saw Buffy lying in the middle of the room, out cold. Throwing caution to the winds, as Buffy lay hurt, possibly dying, Xander raced across the room. Getting to Buffy just in time to hear her groan, Xander fell on his knees beside her. When Buffy made it obvious that she was trying to stand, or at least sit up, despite the fact that she still looked very groggy, he put an arm under hers and helped her to lever herself upright.

The first word out of Buffy's mouth as she came round froze Xander's heart to the core. 

"Angel" mumbled Buffy. Then more clearly: "Angel, did it work?" 

"Sorry Buff, no Angelus here," said Xander as he helped her to her feet. 

"What happened?" asked Buffy. 

"I would imagine that Angelus beat you and went looking for you friends and family to put you off the Athcatla thing." 

"Oh my God," replied Buffy, "the Library!"

Xander and Buffy raced off to the Library in Sunnydale High to see if everyone was all right.

*

As Buffy and Xander raced back to the Library, which they had correctly guessed was the target; Angelus had got there first. Strolling through the doors of the School, into the Library, full game face on display, he ducked as a crossbow bolt came flying from over by the office, signalling that Giles had seen him. 

Angelus vaulted the desk and landed in front of Giles, batting away the cross that the Watcher held up in front of him, and grabbed his arm, bending it to an unnatural angle, hearing bone snap under the pressure as Giles screamed in agony. This alerted Willow and Oz, who had not seen or heard Angelus come in as they were looking for a book to re-curse Angel with his soul. The two came running out of the stacks; Willow preparing a spell and Oz leaping on the attack.

Dropping Giles, who was in too much pain to do anything other than moan in torment, Angelus swivelled in time to elbow Oz full in the face, knocking him out cold. 

Willow cried out as she saw Oz collapse in a heap on the floor, disrupting the spell that she had almost finished preparing. Willow had other tricks up her sleeve however, as she pointed at Angelus and cried "Ignis."

Angelus barely had time to turn as he heard Willow, that insufferable little Wicca-wannabe Hacker bitch scream out the Latin for 'Fire' before the air around him ignited and his coat caught fire. 

Flailing around trying to get the burning duster off before it ignited him, Angelus still headed in Willow general direction, and as soon as his duster was on the floor smouldering, lunged toward her, and grabbing her by the hair, bit her neck and started to suck her dry.

Yet, something else appealed to the demon this time, thinking that both his 'beloved' Buffy, and her White Knight would be distraught at finding their best friend badly hurt and almost dying, and would spend most of their time blaming each other. Then another thought occurred. 

_If, and when, Willow wakes up, won't it just be the icing on the cake if her 'girls best friend' is a vampire. Yes, I like that idea. And… Oz will want to have revenge on the one person other than him who holds Willows heart, and the one person who has broken it. Xander… Yes… This idea has merit._

Dropping Willow, who was on the verge of critical blood loss, Angelus moved over to Oz, and picking him up, quickly drained him. Nicking his wrist to let blood flow, Angelus held it up to Oz' mouth, who greedily gulped down the fluid. 

Angelus reflected while Oz drank:_ It takes a very strong willed person, who at the verge of death chooses to die rather than to continue living, even if continued existence means to be a vampire… such a pity. Slinging the prostrate form of Oz over his shoulder, Angelus jumped out the window to watch the show when Buffy and Xander arrived._

*

Buffy powered through the door of the Library, expecting Willow and Oz to say Hi, and possibly Giles to say something other than "How did Patrol go?" but it wasn't going to happen. Instead of three people alive and well around a table all Buffy saw was chaos. A desk smashed, blood all over the floor, and all three people missing.

Xander, in contrast, when he walked in he didn't see the mess, all he saw was the body of his best friend since, well, _ever lying in a pool of blood, but a pool piteously small for the wound on her neck, which his soldier-boy experiences from Halloween told him should be much larger for the size of the wound, even if only just caused. _

After phoning for an ambulance, Xander immediately jumped to one conclusion, despite the fact that easy conclusions often caused problems: Angelus did this. Glancing to Buffy, seeing her dong nothing he decided that something had to be done, and so headed into the office to see if he could find blankets or something to cover Willow with. 

He practically tore the door to the office off its hinges with the rage that was building, which in turn drew Buffy's wrath down on him for being "uncaring." 

As soon as that word slipped out of her mouth he exploded. He screamed in anger and turned to Buffy. 

"Who do you think did this? Spike? He's too busy fussing after Drusilla. Dru herself? No. She's too weak to pull something like this off. One of Angelus' other henchmen? No! He'd save this honour for himself. Angelus! Your precious 'Angel' did this! The only thing he is an Angel of is Death. Buffy!" 

"You're wrong Xander, Angel couldn't of done this." Buffy said quietly. 

"Well, Buffy, what else could he have done? He beats you in a fight, and knocks you out! You're lucky you aren't dead now, or even better turned and now trying to help him, and after he beats you he spits on you and splits to remove the one person that could return his 'soul' and stop this mess with Athcatla! And you say that Angelus couldn't do any of this, well, he's done a lot worse than this when he was, and I quote "the scourge of Europe" and more is gonna come if we aren't very careful." 

As soon as Buffy was coherent and after the verbal savaging she just received, she went on the offensive. 

"You bastard Xander, blaming everything on Angel. I know Angel; he would never spit on me. Get out of the hormone streak you're in, get a life and a girlfriend and stop trying to force me away from the person I love." 

Those comments got Xander even more enraged. 

"You know Buffy, you're right, absolutely right. You do know Angel, or at least you did, because, newsflash; but Angelus ain't the sweet little adorable Deadboy that you apparently fell in 'love' with. And! As to the other things you mentioned: I do have a girlfriend, and also, I'm always breathing, all the time! I don't burst into flames when the sun touches me and I have a heartbeat. That kind of advertises the fact that I do have a life!" Xander finished the tirade with venomous anger and short of breath.

Just then they heard a moan from the corner where Giles had landed when he had been attacked. But they didn't know that. Buffy got into a classic defensive stance and held her ground. Xander snorted and went to investigate. He discovered Giles in enough of a state to warrant ambulance treatment as well. They just had to wait until they arrived…

*

The hospital was empty of patients apart from Willow and Giles whom an ambulance had brought around an hour ago, doctors had gone into overdrive to save the two badly injured patients, one with critical blood loss and the other with several broken bones. Landing will do that to you when you're older.

Buffy and Xander are sitting on opposite sides of the seating area for emergency room cases, Buffy staring angrily at Xander, and Xander staring adamantly at the wall, with an equally fierce look on his face. Both were thinking: _We've been here hours…_

Both looked up as a doctor walked into the room. 

"Are either of you with the two that came in from the High School?" asked the doctor tiredly. 

"Yes" they both replied simultaneously. 

"OK," the doctor nodded "well, the man you brought in has a cast on his arm due to it being broken. Quite a bit of work we had getting the bone fragments back in the right places, but its fixed, with only minor loss of motor control. The girl however…" the doctor faded out worriedly. 

"What about the girl, I mean, Willow?" said Xander both angry and anxious at the same time. Buffy kept quiet. 

The doctor continued, "Well. When she was brought in she had suffered severe loss of blood from the wound on her neck and was entering shock, if the ambulance had taken 10 minutes more she would be dead. We have sealed up the wound on her neck, and taken her blood level back up to normal levels, but there's something else…" again the doctor faded out. 

"What?" said Xander, his body language clearly saying: _tell me or I'll rip off your arms and give you an enema with them. The doctor took the hint. _

"Well, she's in a coma, and in it deep. She won't come out of it any time soon, if ever, and only if she wants to." As the first syllable of 'coma' started out of the doctors mouth, Xander sank to his knee's on the hard marble floor of the hospital mumbling 'Willow' incoherently. The doctor looked pointedly at Buffy as his eyes said "get him home." Buffy nodded and knelt down next to Xander. As Buffy reached out to put her arms round his shoulders, however, he recoiled violently, screaming, "don't touch me!" at the top of his voice. It shocked both Buffy and the doctor. Orderlies cleaning the corridors stopped and looked at them.

He pushed his face in the doctors, and said "Let me see her!" backing down slightly, then continued, "and then I want to talk to Giles." The doctor obviously perturbed at Xander's actions agreed thinking that disagreeing could be a bad career move at this point. Xander stormed off to Willow's room.

*

The walk served to calm Xander down somewhat, but was very surprised when he walked in the room to see Oz already there. 

"Hi" was all Oz said. Xander spotted a cross on the wall, at reached up to remove it, looking back he saw Oz watching him quizzically and he said "Willow won't like this, she's Jewish" 

Oz nodded in comprehension. Nothing ever phased the wolf-man.

However, as Xander was getting the cross down, it slipped, and smacked Oz on the head on the way to the floor. Oz snarled and looked away, and as he looked back, Xander was shocked to see it was the game face of a vampire. 

"Buffy!" Xander called, causing Oz to run out the room at top speed. Xander followed to the doorway, to see Oz disappear round one corner and Buffy to arrive from the other. 

"Was that Oz I just saw leave?" asked Buffy. 

"Yeah. But news, Oz has been turned by Angelus." Xander sighed deeply. Buffy's mouth moved silently, unsure of what to say, but trying desperately to defend her lover.

Which, of course, started the whole argument from scratch again.

*

When Buffy and Xander reached Giles' room, they had stopped bickering for the time being. Giles greeted them with a small smile and a request; "Buffy, could I talk to Xander alone for a few minutes. You can wait outside." 

"What?" spat Buffy "what can you possibly want to say to Xander that you can't say to me as well?" 

"Humour me, Buffy, I've been hurt." Replied Giles, his tone flat "remember I am your Watcher, and you should obey an order I give you." Almost to himself Giles continued, "but you never have been very good at following instructions" 

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Buffy angrily. 

"Enough, Buffy. Giles and I need to talk." Said Xander, "you can grill him in a few minutes. Now, leave." Buffy left the room, but both men knew it was under protest.

"Now, Giles, could you tell me what you have to say that got Buffy more pissed with me than she already is?" said Xander quietly. 

"Yes, certainly" replied Giles, "you know who attacked us don't you?" It was more a statement than a question. 

"I have an idea," said Xander, avoiding the subject, "and if it was I'll make him wish he was never even born. Let me take a wild guess: Angelus." Giles winced at hearing the name of the Scourge of Europe but nodded his head in agreement slowly. 

"I don't want you to do anything foolish, Xander, which is why I asked to talk to you alone so that Buffy wouldn't get involved. Now, tell me what happened on your end tonight."

"Buffy already is involved Giles, but I'll tell you." Xander quickly gave Giles the Cliff Notes version of events, about finding Buffy unconscious and everything. 

"Angelus not killing a defeated opponent, even one who not long before his body remembers loving dearly speaks badly about what he is planning. It may involve Buffy in one form or another." 

"So what you're saying is that Angelus needs to be removed." Stated Xander. 

"Well, yes," said Giles, "but if you're thinking of trying anything stupid, don't." 

Xander suddenly dropped the bomb on Giles. "I never told you that I kept my soldier memories from Halloween, did I Giles?" 

"No." replied Giles, shock showing plainly on his features, "Did you? That could have been dangerous." 

"Well, I did, and it wasn't, I don't know why I kept the memories when the rest of us lost them after the spell was broken, but it is certainly about to come in handy. I'll get rid of Angelus." 

"I counsel against it," said Giles, "but, being in a hospital bed, I'm hardly in a position to stop you. Just don't do anything stupid and get killed or turned, because I'll make sure that when I find your soul, and find it I will, I'll stick it in the nastiest demon dimension I can think of." By the end of the sentence, Giles voice was a mixture of amusement and deadly seriousness.

"Thanks, G-Man." Said Xander sarcastically, "I'll remember this pep-talk as the one to end all pep-talks" 

"Be careful, Xander, don't run into Buffy, and good luck." As Xander turned to walk out the door, Giles called after him "Xander, I forgot to give you something, there will be a small key in my jacket, take it, and use it to open a lock on the floor behind my desk in the library, there's a hidden basement down there, and I stashed some of Ripper's old kit down there. It may come in handy. Again, be careful, come back alive." Xander felt around the pocket, found the key, nodded to Giles in respect, and left.

*

_Boy, would I get in some serious shit if the US army found that I had been raiding their Sunnydale base for the past few months, thought Xander, __although the likelihood of them finding out, let alone catching me, is quite slim. __Damn, having Special Forces in your head is incredibly useful. Wonder how many different ops the guy was on?_

Soldier guy cut in. _In __over twenty years in various units, I was in three wars and two police actions, and so many 'black ops' I lost count, in over thirty countries. The soldier cast an appreciative eye over the hardware Xander had collected in front of him._

Xander had strewn around his room all the equipment that he had 'liberated' from the base. Digging it out of the various stashes that he had secreted them in had taken hours. Pistols, assault rifles, combat knives, fatigues, camouflage gear, body armour and seven different types of ammo, all in nice boxes were laid out on the bed, next to what Xander considered useful from 'Ripper's Stash'. Those items included vials of Holy Water, stakes, a flare gun, a flak jacket and a few antiquated grenades, which Xander fervently hoped would work properly and not blow up in his hand, along with the _piece de resistance, two claymore mines, complete with 'front toward enemy' motif. _

What Xander had further gotten tonight was nothing short of amazing, _the bigwigs must have moved a Special Forces Unit here thought Xander, as what was gathered was only ever supplied to Special Operations Command troops. An M4 rifle with night-vision scope attached and 'under-the-barrel' M203 grenade launcher, an MP5 SD3, some flash-bangs and smoke grenades and a silenced SOCOM pistol, which had some sort of special new round developed for it, illegal as hell on the streets, and banned by almost every military international treaty, phosphor coated hollow points. _

_But, reflected Xander __if I get caught with any of this stuff by the police the least of my worries is explaining the bullets. _

With that thought, he started to prepare. Poking his head out of his door, he double checked that his parents were snoring soundly from the usual alcohol induced haze, then shut and locked the door to his room. 

The soldier personality took over. Quickly fieldstripping each weapon, unsure which yet to use, he oiled the slide, magazine springs and trigger assembly, and put each weapon back together. Then he ran a rag with cordite remover on a rigid metal wire through the rifling in the barrel. 

Weapon maintenance taken care of, he stripped out of his usual clothes and began pulling on the Special Forces Urban Warfare gear that he had collected, bullet proof vest and another urban camouflage top over it. 

Xander then prepared the weapons, running through the checklist in his head; _take the SOCOM, its light, accurate and a good deal quieter than the other pistols, with the new rounds it should be quite a treat. Xander quickly prepared 3 clips of the phosphor bullets, and 2 of standard sub-sonic hollow points, as a second thought he added a clip of magnesium tipped tracer rounds, reasoning that they would probably burn like unholy (or Holy) blazes if they hit while burning. __Take the MP5 rather than the M4, the M4 is too big and, again, makes too much noise, I don't want every damn vamp from here to San Fran knowing where I am when I open up. _

On went the MP5 with a shoulder strap and 5 clips of hollow points for it. _I need something for close fighting other than stakes, I'll take the knives. On went a carbonised Combat knife into a calf sheath on the left, another into a thigh sheath on his right thigh, and a smaller knife as a holdout on the inside of his left arm. _

_Now, grenades. This bit I like. Xander hooked the fragmentation and smoke grenades and the flash-bangs onto the uniform, and lightly strapped them down so they didn't rattle around and make a sound when he walked. The claymores went into a small rucksack. As an afterthought, the flare gun went in with the claymores._

Slipping on a long trench coat, to disguise all the weapons, and picking up the rucksack, he exited the house by way of the window.

*

Oz liked his new power, true it was a bit of a downer to have to loose his soul to get it,_ but he reflected, __now I can do things I could never, would never, do before. Get Xander for hurting my Willow's feelings, make Buffy scream my name like she screamed Angelus' in the throes of passion. And then kill her, of course. But, best of all, as far as Oz was concerned, __I don't have to wolf out every full moon any more! I can control that part of me. _

As vampires went, Oz was a bit odd. He still had the emotional connection to his friends that he had when alive, _weak added his demon, his soul may be gone but it had affected the demon controlling his body, to the point where he was almost the same Oz, just now he had the added bonus of a severe allergy to sunlight and Blessed items, instead of just to silver._

He had been standing in the corridor for an hour or more, contemplating, and the other vampires had not dared to come near him. 

The amalgamation of the Wolf and the Demon had made his stronger than Spike, and almost as strong as Angelus. He was only a night old, and nearly as strong as a 240-year-old vampire master. This made the other vampires, especially the 'newborns' as Angelus called them, extremely wary of him.

Oz stalked off to the feeding chamber in the warehouse.

*

Xander knelt over one of the skylights in the warehouse Angelus was using as his base after being run out of his Mansion. Even vampires didn't like to be reminded of failures, in fact, with longer lives, they hated reminders of failure more than the average human.

Checking over his equipment one last time before going in, he nodded and carefully opened the window of the skylight, making no noise as he did. 

Looking in quickly, Xander saw several vampires sucking blood out of some prisoners chained in the corner. Sitting back on his haunches, Xander thought to himself._ What should I do? He came to a decision finally. __There's fuck all I can do, so to hell with it. They were already fucked, so kill 'em rather than let them be turned._

Pulling the pin of his first flash bang, he dropped it into the room, and before it had landed, dropped a second flash bang and had a smoke grenade and a fragmentation grenade ready to drop.

He let go of both as the two flash bangs detonated.

*

Oz was just walking into the feeding chamber via the main door as he saw something drop from the ceiling. 

While 'human', he had spent quite a bit of time talking to Xander about his Halloween experience, they were the only real 'guy' friends each other had, and he knew a flash bang when he saw one, his demon did not know what to do but the remnants of his human mind told him: 

"Down! Eye's closed turn away, and run once it's detonated!"

Turning quickly as the flash bang number one went off, Oz ran out of the room toward his own. The fledgling vampires would have to deal with what this turn of events dealt them themselves. Not once did running to Angelus cross his mind. Only to prepare to escape. Things were obviously about to get messy.

*

Xander could hear the screams of the vampires below as he lowered a rope and rappelled down it. Landing lightly on his feet, Xander dropped into a crouch and readied his MP5. 

A few of the vampires had been blown to bits by the fragmentation grenade. The five remaining were congregated around a few gathered victims at one end of the room, and rolling around on the floor trying to clear their eyes. Xander never gave them the chance to see him. 

Aiming carefully, Xander flicked the selector switch on the MP5 to 3 round burst and fired at each vamps head. Half a clip later, 5 vamps were dust on the ground, and it left Xander thinking, _damn. And people say bullets don't work on undead. The whole thing took all of fifteen seconds._

The human that were chained to the wall were, surprisingly, still alive. All had small cuts on them from the fragmentation grenade, but the vampires had caught most of the shrapnel, saving the captives. Quickly moving over to the incarcerated victims, Xander checked the pulses of those that looked like they had a chance. Those that were obviously dead or drained, he left. Xander didn't have time to guide them out; they would have to escape by themselves.

Turning away from the liberated happy meals, Xander headed for the door and the rest of Angelus' warehouse.

*

Stalking through the shadows of the warehouse, and doubting that they would make a difference as to whether the vamps saw him or not, Xander was getting increasingly paranoid. 

After the feeding room, he had not found a single vamp anywhere, and he had now covered half the building. The soldier personality whispered into his mind that the vampires were setting an ambush ahead, which he took careful note of, while the Hyena mind was repeating the same words over and over again, distracting him.

_Hunt. _

_Kill._

__

_Feed. _

_I am the Alpha! Competitors must be vanquished! _

_Hunt. _

_Kill. _

_Kill. _

_Feed. _

It was starting to override conscious thought. He was loosing his mind in the other two. Peeking round a corner, Xander saw Oz, in full vamp mode, turn and enter a room. 

Suddenly, from that room, came snarls, and howls as if someone or something was getting torn apart. 

Silently moving up to the door, Xander quickly looked in.

And recoiled from what he saw.

_Oh. My. God. Oz, in full werewolf mode was tearing about ten vamps apart so violently it was as if he had a personal grudge against them. Xander heard the quiet 'poof' as a vamp exploded into dust, and then three more so quickly it sounded like they were standing next to each other in a line._

About a minute later, the sound of fighting stopped, and Xander risked a peep into the room.

Xander saw Oz, standing in the middle of the room, now human rather than wolf, and he couldn't resist a low whistle at the piles of dust that decorated the room. Of course, at that, Oz whirled around and vamped out when he saw another opponent. 

Xander raised his MP5 and aimed at Oz' head as a precaution. _After all, this vamp just killed ten others in less time than it takes Willow to babble 'hi'._

Oz just tilted his head and looked at him. 

"Hey, man" he said in his usual voice, "what's the popgun for?" 

"Killing Angelus" replied Xander, "although if you care to volunteer, I'll let you be a trial run." 

"No thanks, man," snapped back Oz "I want to hurt you for hurting Willow, but with me like this, I have to expect you'll look after her. I don't want her hurt more. Thanks to the wolf, I have a semblance of control over the demon in me. I'm more Oz than Demon. That is the only thing saving you. I'm out of here." 

With that, Oz ran past Xander and back the way Xander had come. _At least he won't warn Angelus thought Xander. __But I'll have to get him if he becomes a danger to my friends._

Xander changed the clip in the MP5 to a fresh one, and started on his way again.

*

Xander came to the last room in the warehouse. _Here be Angelus. His Hyena mind said. __Kill. Do not feed. Dead meat is bad meat. _

Xander stepped into the first room, and, seeing nothing of import, headed for the later rooms, MP5 ready at all times, barrel pointing wherever his eyes moved to. Poking his head round the bedchamber entrance, Xander saw his greatest shock of the night.

Angelus. 

In a bed. 

Naked. 

With a blonde vamp riding him hard.

"Buffy" said Xander.

At the interruption, the blonde vamp turned violently toward the door and snarled. Her face told Xander that he was wrong it wasn't Buffy. However, Xander could tell that Angelus picked her as his 'partner' for the likeness. Almost like Buffy, but taller, almost Harmony's height.

"What's wrong, pet?" asked Angelus "what's got your attention?" with this Angelus sat up and seeing Xander decked out in full military gear, quickly had to school his face away from shock and to an angered snarl.

"This is it Angel, I've had enough of your terrorising Buffy and my friends." Spat Xander with venom in his voice. "You're going to hell on a one way express ticket."

"Not likely." Replied Angelus. Flinging his flavour of the month at Xander, he spun up out of the bed, grabbed his pants and coat and fled out the second door.

Xander missed most of the escape, seeing only which door Angelus went through as he had a hundred pounds of pissed vamp heading toward him. Without thinking, he dropped to a crouch and fired at her head while she was in mid air. The speed of the shot meant that two of the rounds missed her head, one missing wide and burying itself in the wall, the other hitting in the shoulder. The third, however, was a perfect shot, and hit square in the forehead, turning her to dust. 

Xander coughed and looked around. _I wonder if vamp dust is as bad for your health as smoking? 'Cause I just got a lungful. With that nearly random thought, he began hunting Angelus. _

"Here Angelus, here boy, nice juicy hu-man." Xander sing-songed as he walked along. _Probably not the brightest idea to advertise your position, kid. Whispered the soldier in his mind. That thought promptly made Xander shut up._

*


	2. Journey of Discovery: Edited and Final 2

*

Buffy was distraught. 

Giles had brushed her off at the hospital after Xander had left, and she wanted to know why. All her questions had been met with evasions or outright denials of knowledge. _What was Xander up to? Where had Oz gone? Why did Angel leave me alive after he beat me? To toy with my mind again? All these questions and more were spinning through Buffy's head like a tornado._

_Don't I owe Xander? After all he was helping me when I went into Angel's warehouse. No. I need to get my feelings for Angel sorted out before I can feel for someone else. Anyway, didn't I brush Xander off at the spring fling? How can he have feelings for me still after that? _

Buffy was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice Spike saunter out of a bar right in front of her. 

"Hey, Slayer, what are you doing in this neighbourhood alone?" asked Spike with a hint of a leer. 

"Right now, Spike, I'm not doing anything, but that can change if you care to volunteer as my new punching bag. My last one broke. I punched it too hard." Buffy deadpanned. "I'm really not in the mood for vamp killing Spike, so get out of my sight." 

"OK, Slayer, I just thought maybe you might want to know that me an' Dru are heading out of Sunnydale. It's getting too hot here, what with your boyfriend bashing the place up." Replied Spike. 

The line about Drusilla made Buffy curious, "how do you intend to get Dru out of Sunnydale? She's so infatuated with Angel that you couldn't drag her away if she was dead," a hint of Buffy's old fun crept into her voice "oh, I forgot, she already is." 

Spike growled at Buffy's flip attitude. "I'll choose to ignore that last comment Slayer, I've wised up since I got here. 'Don't go attacking apparently helpless little blonde girls, they turn out to be the Slayer, which hurts. A lot." 

Buffy grinned at the backhanded compliment.

"Anyway, I'm getting out of Sunnydale, with Dru, if I have to drag her kicking and screaming all the way to Britain. Or Washington, whichever." Spike inclined his head at Buffy. "See ya round, Slayer." With that, Spike walked off and quickly disappeared into the early morning darkness.

Buffy was left standing in the street, staring after Spike like an idiot._ It must be bad if the players are leaving…___

*

Xander had been ambushed by groups of vamps as he tailed Angelus. Which didn't bother him particularly, but had taken its toll on his ammunition supply. He had run out of clips for the MP5 after the first attack, which had composed of more vampires than Xander had encountered for the past week solid. Xander had succeeded in taking them all down with only a slight physical loss, but reflected: 

_If there had been two more vamps, or one less clip, I'd now either be one of them, or a finished Happy Meal. As it is, they may have hurt me enough to make killing Angelus difficult if I have to go hand-to-hand. ___

The first vamp, to try to take him by surprise had dived out of doorway, which just succeeded in letting the vamp meet the opposite wall as Xander rolled out of the way, but during the roll, Xander twisted his knee slightly, making him limp lightly as he walked.

After that incident, Xander discarded the MP5. With no ammunition, it was just a dead weight.

The second and third groups had been much smaller, comprising of only two or three vamps apiece. Most seem to have been in the first wave, to try taking him down by sheer numbers.

_Where the hell is this bastard going? Thought Xander. __He seems to be heading back for the entrance…___

_…Oh, shit!___

Xander increased his pace. Heading for the main entrance, while pulling his backpack off to remove the claymores. 

_A little surprise for any vamp that wants to try blindsiding me. Xander sniggered. __That would be a good light display. I wonder if Sunnydale P.D. would ever work it out? He asked himself sarcastically._

*

Buffy had just reached the drive of her home when her mother rushed out of the door to meet her. 

"What do you think you're doing, young lady, staying out until 3:30 in the morning?" Joyce exclaimed "you get inside right this minute before I… I…" Joyce's tirade ended and her voice broke. "Oh, Buffy! Why were you out so late?" 

"Giles and Willow are in the hospital mom." Said Buffy quietly, causing Joyce to gasp quietly and cover her mouth with her hand. 

"Some vamps decided to crash a research party we had going. Xander and me weren't there. We were out looking for Angel." 

"The ex-boyfriend that's gone all psychotic stalker on you?" Joyce asked, "Why were you looking for him? He seems pretty good at finding you himself." 

"I know, mom…" started Buffy, but stopped when she noticed Angel running down the road toward her and her mother. "Mom, get inside. NOW." Buffy said forcefully, "Angel's coming!"

Buffy was right. Angel was running down Rovello Drive, in an attempt to get a very pissed Xander off his tail. Fear was a completely new emotion to Angelus, before; he had been the one inspiring fear in others. To have one whom he should be terrorising making him run like a frightened child was a new experience, and it was not one he was enjoying.

It didn't help that Xander had survived four vamp ambushes that he had set up, and was stalking him with a similar technique to how a wild animal would stalk its prey. When coupled with the cold detached precision a veteran soldier uses when angered, Angelus was more than a tad concerned that if it came to an out-and-out fight, he would lose… 

…But not without taking Xander down with him.

When Angelus spotted Buffy standing on her front lawn with her mother, he quickly formulated a plan. 

_I can use the animosity between Buffy and Xander about me to my advantage. Confuse Buffy. It's easily done at the best of times, but now it should be a complete walkover. Either get Xander fighting her, or use her as a distraction while I prepare to destroy Xander. _

Angelus flashed a wicked grin, then quickly put on his hurt face, and cried out in thanks as he neared Buffy. 

"Oh, Buffy, thank God I've found you. Xander's gone mad. Giles and Willow managed to cast the spell before Angelus' vamps got to the Library. I've got my soul back, but Xander won't believe me and is trying to kill me! He got all of Angelus' vampires and I only just escaped with my life, so to speak, help me!" 

"Oh, Angel!" cried Buffy rushing to him, "I'll talk some sense into Xander. Wait over by the house while I try to explain." Angelus fake limped over to the entrance of the house, watching Joyce to see if she saw past his deception. 

_Buffy could almost be thought of as simple, thought Angelus.__ She's so blinded by love for a person she will never truly know that she is willing to throw away all her friends. Pitiful. _

On cue, Xander ran around the curve in the road, limping slightly, but not enough to slow him down. 

_Jeez, this guys a regular G.I Joe. Thought Angelus. Buffy ran forward to meet him in the street, and Angelus took that as the indication that it was time to leave. _

The demon stopped him, interested. 

_See what your enemy is capable of. It whispered into his mind.__ If he can turn on his friends in an effort to reach a goal, he is truly a dangerous foe. Watch. Learn. You may need the knowledge in the future. So Angelus found a convenient tree and swung up into the branches to watch._

Xander was in full soldier mode as Buffy neared him. He nearly mistook her for another vamp and opened fire. 

Nearly. 

Raising the SOCOM pistol, Xander sighted down it at the head of the body and his finger started to tighten on the trigger. 

"Xander!" the exclamation from the blonde head shocked him out of hunting mode, as both the soldier and Hyena personalities called it and he focussed on the face. 

"Buffy?" asked Xander. "What are you doing? Get out of my way! I need to kill Angelus." 

"Xander, no! He's Angel again. Giles and Willow succeeded on the spell. He has his soul back. And is running scared because you've gone all psycho-soldier on him. I won't let you hurt him. I'll defend him myself if I must, and I won't be gentle." 

Xander seemed to be thinking, tilting his head to the side, and looking into the distance. 

"Gee, Buff, you really have fallen for his shit, hook, line, sinker, rod and copy of 'Angling Times' haven't you? I've been hunting him for all of three hours, and not an hour ago he was rutting in the hay with his vamp flavour of the month, who he sacrificed because I got too close to his personal space. He's still the bad old Angelus who ran out on you."

At this point, Joyce had come up to the two teens, and having heard most of the conversation, as it was shouted rather than said. Joyce wondered if the neighbourhood would wake up, but then remembered that Sunnydale residents were rather good at ignoring any unusual sounds in the night. 

"Buffy, Xander, don't you think both of you are over reacting slightly? I mean, Buffy, you're willing to attack one of your best friends to protect someone who, frankly, I don't think is worth protecting. And Xander, you are decked out in enough military hardware to make Rambo jealous." Joyce was put out by the attitude that Xander seemed to exude, and the amount of equipment on him. She wondered how much wasn't visible.

Xander cut into her thoughts, looking slightly guilty, "you're right Mrs. S, but he got me really pissed and I just wanted to go hunting." While saying this he was thinking, _I'm saying this to shut you up, but I'm still gonna kill the bastard. _

Then Buffy cut in "I still won't let you hurt him Xander." 

To which, Xander responded only by shifting his stance, which clearly advertised 'you and what army, slayer?' 

Joyce noticed the subtle shift in body language from Xander, and was disturbed by this, quickly saying "Buffy, why don't you go inside now? Xander, I think you had better go home." Buffy looked about to argue, but a look from Joyce stopped her, and she headed in. 

"Sure, OK, Mrs. S," said Xander "I'd better go home now, too."_ But not before I find Angelus he finished in his mind. Xander took off at a loping trot, favouring his left leg, then shifting into a sniper run after he was round the corner and spotted Angelus in the distance, heading to his mansion. That was the only building in that direction._

*

Xander had reached the entrance to the grounds of Angelus' mansion. He paused. Something didn't seem right. _Almost as if…___

Xander leaned forward and picked up a stick. Throwing it lightly at the fence, Xander winced as the stick made contact with the metal…

…and did nothing except fall to the ground. 

_OK, I'm getting paranoid in my old age. Thought Xander sarcastically. __But I'm sure he will have some surprises for me in this place. You don't survive 240 years by being stupid. Then again, to get turned you have to show a degree of stupidity.___

Xander, reasonably confident that there would be no more traps outside, pulled his SOCOM and, checking the chamber, walked through the gate and round the side of the building. _Sure to be traps in the main entrance. _

Just then he heard Angelus' voice echo round the yard. "Be careful where you step, Xander." Said Angelus voice in a playful tone.

Xander's only reply was, "come out and face me you chicken-shit bastard!" which got him nowhere. The courtyard was empty. It did, however, get the attention of both his soldier personality and the Hyena. Both said approximately the same thing; _he's trying to get you to fuck-up by making you angry and disoriented. Don't let him get to you. The soldier said it in military jargon and the Hyena said it with a predator's appreciation of tactics. __Easy for you to say, replied Xander. _

Xander got to the back door and jimmied the lock with one of his combat knives. _Nice way to treat your kit, kid. Chastised the soldier. __Shut it. Replied Xander.__ It got me in didn't it? There was no response. Xander started his trek into the bowels of Angelus' mansion._

*

There were no vamps in the whole of Angelus' mansion. 

_So why did you bring me here? Thought Xander, __unless you have a surprise planned. A figure appeared in Xander's vision as he rounded a corner. Xander double tapped it before he could stop himself. A metallic ping resounded twice as the bullets hit the helm._

It was a suit of armour.

_Shit! What the fuck, Kid! You jumping at frigging shadows now? Screamed his soldier personality in his head. __Keep going like this and you'll waste all you're fucking ammo on nothing before you reach Angelus!___

Angelus mocking voice echoed soldier-boys thoughts, "Aww. Is little Xander jumping at things that aren't there?" his voice shifted pitch, becoming cold and deadly, "How do you think you can fight me, White Knight? Remember, kill me and you won't have the Princess to protect you anymore." 

_I'll deal. Said all three of Xander at the same time.__ I still love Buffy, but if losing her is the price I must pay to remove you, so be it. Xander holstered his pistol and drew his thigh combat knife, so that if he jumped at nothing again, he didn't waste bullets. __Good, Kid. The soldier praised him. __But be ready to pull it if the big bad suddenly decides to show. ___

Xander stalked up the staircase, keeping to the left to avoid the middle of the steps. In this business, paranoia kept you alive, and death wasn't something Xander wanted to contemplate.

*

Buffy was sitting at home with her mother, watching the television on a 'girl's night in' except that her mother was stonily silent. Joyce was asking herself a lot of questions. The conversation Buffy and Xander had held in the street answered a lot of questions she had about this town.

_What was Xander, of all people doing dressed like that? ___

_He looked as if he was about to go on manoeuvres. ___

_Why was Buffy trying to stop him? ___

_Why did Angel run up and say Xander was going to kill him? ___

_Xander couldn't kill Angel, even if he did have a soul, Angel could protect himself from Xander. ___

_Unless…Angel really was Angelus, and was just using Buffy's love for him to slow Xander down enough to give him a nasty surprise. A sort of diversionary tactic. ___

_Would he be that devious? Yes. Who can I get to help Xander? ___

_Buffy won't do it because she still loves Angel, hell, even I can tell that, I'm not blind like Buffy seems to think I am. I should have confronted her about this a long time ago, but I didn't, and this is where we are now, so no turning back; just make the best of a bad job, and hope it turns out all right.___

Buffy, for her part was pretending to watch the TV while asking herself a similar amount of questions. 

_How did Willow complete the soul curse so fast? Angel wouldn't lie to me would he? ___

At this question, Buffy's love for the vampire overrode her common sense, and denied the fact that Angelus would have lied to her to turn her against her friends. 

_Where the hell did Xander get all of that military grade equipment? Did he rob the army base again? He is in so much trouble if I find he did. Is he going after Angel? And why? To get revenge on his minions for what they did to Willow? 'Cause Angel couldn't have done that to her. ___

Again, her love for Angel overrode the obvious answer: that Angel was not Angel but was still Angelus._ I've got to find Xander before he does something he can't undo.___

"I'm gonna go out for a while, mom. I'll be back soon." Buffy suddenly announced as she got up.

"Oh, no, you're not!" replied Joyce, shaking her head "sit back down and behave or go to your room and cool off there, but you are not going looking for Angel or Xander now, honey."

Buffy started walking in the direction of the stairs. As she reached the bottom, Joyce called out again, "and don't think you can sneak out of your bedroom window, missy! I know you do that a lot. Just for once, let your mind rule instead of your heart."

Buffy nearly choked at that final comment, such an innocent throw away, but all the same quite a painful one. With a final withering glance at the back of her mother's head, Buffy stalked up stairs to bed, at 5 in the morning.

*

Xander had made it into the final wing of the mansion, and was beginning to wish that the sun wasn't starting to rise, because, as both his soldier and hyena mentalities pointed out, _enemies are at their most dangerous when they have nowhere left to run. ___

And Angelus has nowhere to run. Sun up, so he can't go out again, and this is the only entrance to this part of the mansion, so he's cut off. 

_Unless he has some sort of escape route in the wing whispered his soldier mind, the eternal pessimist. _____

_If he has, Xander thought back, __I'd just have to pursue him through it. Again.___

Xander reached the far end of the wing without incident, and swore when he saw the drain cover lying open in the middle of the room. _Oh, if that doesn't advertise 'come get me, I'm here' I can suck my own cock. Said the soldier mind, __watch out, kid, this is definitely a trap.___

_Xander almost giggled, __No shit! He thought back sarcastically._

_Hey, kid, you've got a couple of grenades left haven't you? Asked the soldier, __throw 'em down the drain so that if Angelus is waiting to jump you he'll get a surprise. _

_Nice! Thought back Xander. __He'll be waiting. Lets see if we can't crispy fry this annoying vamp. ___

Xander pulled both pins on the grenades and dropped them down the sewer entrance, quickly moving away so that the concussion didn't disorient him. Five seconds, and two dull thumps later, Xander dropped down the sewer entrance with pistol drawn and the Hyena mind clamouring to help him see well in the dark. 

_OK, go ahead, Xander said to his Hyena counterpart, __as long as it doesn't distract my ability to think. The Hyena snickered insanely and leapt to the fore of Xander's mind, bringing with it far better night vision, and even enhanced ability to smell Angelus. _

Not that that really helped here, as the smell of the sewer was so overpowering, Xander couldn't have smelt Angelus if he had been an inch from his nose.

The soldier mind struggled to get through to him for a second, _remember, kid, that sewers echo badly and you can never tell how far away a sound is. But that goes for Angelus as well. _

As if to prove a point, Angelus' voice drifted down the pipe to Xander, made hollow and tinny by the echo and enclosed pipe. "Oh, Xander, come get me! You didn't really think that I would fall for the 'grenade first' approach did you?" 

_No, but I could hope couldn't I? Xander snarled in his head, and started toward the sound a quietly as he could._

*

Giles checked himself out of the Hospital at 6 am. Both of the doctors assigned to him were adamant that he should not leave but he signed himself out regardless. As with his time as 'Ripper' Giles always healed relatively fast for a 'normal' person, possibly as a result of some of the spells that Ripper had cast in his heyday.

Walking out of the hospital and into the morning light, Giles wonder exactly how Xander had fared. Had he won? Was he still chasing Angelus? Was he dead? Giles didn't know the answers to those questions, and tried to shunt them from his mind. Only time would provide the answers.

*

Reaching a large intersection in the sewer, Xander cautiously looked around to see if Angelus had left any little presents for him. Seeing none, however, he found the service ladder for the pipe and slid down holding tightly enough for the ladder to slow his fall yet loosely enough to not take too long about it.

Landing, Xander dropped into a crouch to examine his surroundings from the new angle. He only just succeeded in stopping the soldier from rolling him out of the way of the ladder and right into the sewer water. Giving his body to one of his 'freeloading' personalities allowed the other to gain control more easily, it seemed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Angel's duster flapping down one of the sewer tunnels leading further into the maze of Sunnydale's sewer system.

_Shit! I let him get further in and it's gonna be fucking impossible to find the bastard! Xander, throwing caution to the winds took off after Angelus like all the demons of hell were behind him. _

Which, when you looked down the tunnel that Xander had just come out of, was a relatively accurate description. Unfortunately, Xander didn't have the sense to check his six.

*

Xander, in the mean time had turned round to check his six. What he saw nearly gave him a heart attack.

Fuck! There are more bloody demons following me than Buffy has fought in the whole of her 'career' as the Vampire Slayer. I am so fucked.

Even as he was thinking this, however, his soldier was taking over from the Hyena and pulling his pistol. 

_I hope these fuckers go down with phosphor bullets. Muttered his soldier._

Firing a single shot from his pistol, Xander hit the lead demon, which was possibly the ugliest shit he had ever seen, surpassing even the Master, right smack in the head, between the eyes. The demon dropped and tripped the nearest demons behind him with it's writhing round on the floor. 

But it didn't die. 

Nevertheless, Xander didn't have time to worry about him as the scores of other demons were just trampling it in their rush to get at Xander. Unloading the remaining eleven rounds into different demons, some of which obviously died from them, Xander started to back off against the sheer numbers.

Jamming his one remaining clip into the SOCOM, Xander continued unloading rounds at his opponents. Swearing like a trooper when the clip jammed on the fifth round, he turned tail and ran, trying to clear the stoppage. When it was obvious that the pistol was fucked, and would never work again, Xander discarded it. 

_Kid, when using phosphor rounds, most pistols can only fire 15 rounds at most before some sort of fuck up, it's the phosphor, it jams the slide mechanism, his soldier told Xander __you were lucky to have it last that long. Don't get greedy, and don't engage those things at close range, that first one you dropped had enough spikes to make Sonic look like a cuddly rabbit.___

Xander reached the end of the tunnel only to be caught unaware by Angelus' arm, which was sticking out. Xander ran into it at full speed and dropped like a stone. Angel's arm didn't even move.

The last thing Xander saw was Angelus picking him up by an ankle and pulling him through the sewer muck. With the lack of oxygen under the sewer water, and the smell above it, Xander blacked out.

*

Xander awoke with a pounding headache. His vision swimming slowly around, making all of the surrounding area seem slightly unreal.

It was unreal.

Well, for the normal everyday person who didn't believe in ghosts and demons, or the horrors they could commit. The table Xander realised he was strapped to was placed in the middle of a room, which in turn had walls that were covered all around with dead or near-dead bodies of what looked like they may have once been people. 

Some had been skinned alive, another had been crucified on a huge wooden cross and had had a cross shape carved into his chest directly above where his heart would have been.

Xander lapsed back to unconsciousness.

*

Giles decided to go to the Sunnydale Ripper stash to see what Xander had taken. Just out of interest. After all, most of the military equipment would be gone if Xander still had the 'soldier' in him, as it would be more comfortable wielding known weapons.

Getting to the stash, Giles was not surprised on inspection of the stash that most of the more archaic weapons had been left, while all of the military hardware had gone. The only non-military equipment missing was a few vials of Holy water and some oak stakes. 

Satisfied, Giles left to go home.

*

When Xander next awoke from the personal hell his subconscious gave him, he opened his eyes to Angelus' leering face.

"That is definitely not a picture to wake up to." Muttered Xander, instantly wishing he had not opened his mouth when Angel quickly drove his fist into his gut. Xander's stomach heaved and he lost what small amount of food he had left in it. He then realised that he was naked, or nearly so. Angelus had striped him of all his gear.

"Now, now, Xander." Snarled Angelus "it's not a good idea to insult the host. Especially when the host holds the key to a fast death or an unimaginably slow and painful one."

"What, no third option?" Xander's strained attempt at humour got him another punch for his trouble.

"Ya, know, Xander." Said Angelus cheerfully as he walked over to a table and picked up what appeared to be a railroad spike, "I really" his voice turned dark and venomous "hate your jokes!" Angelus punctuated the final word with trusting the railroad spike trough Xander's left shoulder.

Xander screamed raggedly at the pain that erupted in his shoulder.

"I thought Spike was the one who used those?" he quipped weakly when the pain subsided slightly.

"Who do ya think taught him, Xander? The tooth fairy?" sneered Angelus "But ya know, if you can keep your sense of humour even with this," Angelus waved at the spike "in your shoulder, you can laugh at anything! I want to see you laughing when I carve your little girlfriend up, 'cause, ya know, it ain't hard to tell you love Buffy more than anything."

"Maybe once." Replied Xander, "not anymore. I don't have the hots for the necrophiliac Slayer anymore." The last sentence was snarled to disguise the pain, but even Xander could tell it was there more to try convincing himself than stating fact.

Angelus chuckled. "Yeah. It must kill you that I got there first." He thrust his face close to Xander's, "she screamed my name as she came. I introduced her to womanhood." Angelus' voice became lascivious "She willingly gave me her maidenhead. Wanted no other. Well, I took it. Remember Xander, no prizes for second place." Angelus roared with laughter and strolled out to leave Xander alone with his thoughts.

*

Barely slipping into unconsciousness gave Xander the release from pain that he needed. When he reached a painless place in his head, he discovered that the Hyena and 'soldier-boy' had been there for some time and were just waiting for him to join them.

_You were so set on pissing off Angelus that we couldn't get through the barriers you had erected to seal off the pain. Said the soldier._

_Pain. Do not anger the soulless one more than necessary. He is stronger than you. Offered the Hyena._

_He's right, kid, said the soldier, __when a frontal assault does not succeed, if y'all still alive then change for stealth. Get him when he ain't ready. Use someone as bait, and then fuck him over.___

Xander was too gone to really understand most of this. Then the Hyena made a suggestion. 

Shall one of us take over when Angelus comes back? It will give you the rest you need.

Xander understood that. 

_Please, he replied, __please.___

The Hyena took control.

*

Angelus swaggered back into the room, with a huge grin on his face. Seeing Xander, or what he assumed to be Xander, hanging from the manacles limply, with his eyes shut, Angelus thought to give him a rude awakening.

The blood had stopped flowing from around the spike in Xander's shoulder, and Angelus gripped it tightly then savagely pulled it out. Expecting a scream of pain from Xander, Angelus was taken aback when he laughed maniacally instead. This was the Hyena masking its cries. 

When Angelus stepped close to Xander, he leapt back at the savage snarl and wide eyes of Xander. He was even more taken aback when Xander lunged against his bonds to try snapping at him.

Thinking that he had driven Xander insane, Angelus laughed and ordered a minion to see that Xander did not bleed to death. ____

_After all, thought Angelus, __it would be very amusing to see Buffy and Willow when they see what I have done to Xander. It would be the beginning of the end for the Slayer. A descent into madness, what a lovely way to go. Should I turn her, like I turned Dru? Perfect.___

*

The vampire who had been ordered to see to Xander had been a surgeon in life, and had been turned by Angelus on one of his trips to the blood bank in the hospital. He had strict instructions to not feed on Xander, or he would be bathed in Holy water. To fix Xander's shoulder better he made sure that Xander was unconscious and undid the shackles holding him to the table.

The Hyena let him. All the dead bodies on the floor and walls allowed a lot of rubbish to accumulate and no one to notice. Added to the fact that when Angelus had brought him here, he stripped him but not completely. Most of his kit, the important remaining parts anyway, were over in the corner, in a pile. The Hyena positioned a large piece of wood, splintered from the table probably, under his hand, ready to stab the vampire.

The vamp surgeon disinfected the wound, and wrapped it in roll after roll of surgical gauze. Then stuck small plasters over the lesser wounds. Fortunately there were no sprains. The vamp sat back on his haunches, to eye its work. Even in death, the surgeon still ruled, even if the Hippocratic oath had gone down the pan.

The Hyena struck. Flipping the makeshift stake, he drove his arm forward as fast as possible, lodging the stake in the vampires unbeating heart. The vamp snarled and looked down surprised, before mouthing: why? Then he burst into dust.

The Hyena gently stood up and almost staggered to Xander's equipment. Fortunately, Angelus little spike trick had missed any bones or arteries, so he could still use the arm. It hurt like hell though. Shrugging into the camouflage gear and Kevlar vest, the soldier took over. He checked that there was enough C4 left to do the job and planted a couple in the torture room, on a 15-minute timer.

Then the soldier and Hyena worked together to get out of the sewer, planting C4 as they went. As they reached a manhole, Xander checked his watch: 1 minute left.

Xander climbed up the ladder and lifted the manhole cover open, enough to squeeze out, but small enough to shut it again quickly. The final C4 charge he put on a 7 second fuse but did not activate it.

Placing his face in the gap, Xander called out "Angelus! Here boy!"

Angelus heard the call and ran for the sound. He was there in 20 seconds, to see Xander's face peering in through a partially open manhole. 

He stepped into the small amount of light, growling. "Xander, come back down here and I promise I'll kill you quickly."

"Sorry, nothing doing, Angelus." Xander's head withdrew.

When the time remaining on the other charges was 10 seconds by his watch, Xander started the timer on the charge in his hand.

For Angelus, a small cuboid package falling in the manhole was accompanied by Xander's voice saying "Merry Christmas, Deadboy."

The manhole cover ground shut.

And the world was filled with fire.

*

After Xander booted shut the manhole cover, he scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as his protesting legs could carry him. As soon as a dull rumble told him that the first charges had gone up early started he flung himself to the floor. The other charges went up in sequence, the final one being the one next to Angelus. It sent the manhole cover soaring into the sky, flying upwards about 40 feet, before coming crashing down on the tarmac road about 10 feet from the manhole it started from.

"Burn in Hell, you son of a bitch." Both his soldier and Hyena echoed this sentiment.

"Fuck, Buffy's gonna be pissed when she finds out I blew her boyfriend up. Like killing me, pissed. I'm gonna have to make myself scarce in Sunnydale."

Xander limped off, away from Sunnydale, stopping only to say goodbye to Giles and explain and apologise for making half of Sunnydale start to subside from the sewer being collapsed.

*

Xander was right. Buffy was 'killing him' pissed. Only Giles' obsession with a new nasty from the Hellmouth and his staunch defence of what Xander did, stopped her from starting a countrywide manhunt.

She'll get over it eventually.

*

*

*

*

*

End

*


	3. Gap Chapter

This is just a gap page between the rewritten 'Journey of Discovery', and the original version, just in case any of you preferred the original. However, the sequel will be working based on the edited version, so ignore this if you want to.


	4. Journey of Discovery Original: Chapter 1

Chapter 1. Prologue.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss, WB, UPN etc own everything. My life sucks.

Rating: Brit: 15             US of A: R (I think).

Author: Paradigm Shifter.

Feedback: Please, I beg.

Notes: British spelling and grammar. I have no experience of decent hospitals, as the NHS is, frankly, shit. Thought of the day: Go in a British hospital; come out worse than you went in.

Pairing: Unsure as yet. Might be B/X maybe D/X (leaning toward this, Buffy's getting on my nerves of late. One word: Spuffy {shudders})

Continuity: Diverges from "Becoming" Season 2 of Buffy. However, Dawn is around.

Starts in the Athcatla room before Angelus can open the portal.

Thoughts in Italics 

*

Buffy had finally cornered Angel (she still hoped that his soul could be restored, and until proved otherwise, refused to call him Angelus) in the room that housed Athcatla. Tossing a blade in his direction, she readied her own, and was not prepared for him to refuse to pick it up.

"Very well, Angel, if you insist on not defending yourself." Her love for the vampire showing in her words. Angelus remained stubbornly silent. Buffy lunged, though the long-sword she was using had greater reach than the short-sword she was used to using, the weight of the blade made her lunge off target, and Angelus sidestepped the attack, replying with a quick swipe of his own from his clawed hands.

Dropping to the floor and rolling, Buffy managed to avoid the blow aimed at her neck and got back to her feet, preparing for a further assault.

It never came.

In the few second that Angel had been out of her sight when she was rolling, the vampire had disappeared. Lowering the blade, Buffy stepped forward, allowing Angelus to drop behind her and wrench the sword out of her hand, simultaneously pinning her to the floor.

Buffy was scared. Scared because her lover was pinning her to the floor without a hint of mercy in his eyes. She could only hope that he would kill her outright, rather than turn her. _No. Don't even think that._ Start thinking like that and he will do it, just because he can see the fear in your eyes.

It hurt the most because it was a bloodthirsty killer wearing the face of the one man she had loved since becoming the Slayer. _Although,_ she reflected, _I probably haven't given very many a chance. _Smiling evilly all the time, Angelus pressed down on Buffy's neck, quickly making her vision spin and as she finally blacked out from lack of oxygen, the last thing she heard was "Goodbye, lover. I'll call ya."

Smiling down at the prone form of the Slayer, Angelus kissed her on the lips and stood, then as the demon raged at not killing the Slayer, he spat on her face and stalked out, to get the final preparations for Athcatla, the bringer of Hell on Earth.

*

Xander was panic-stricken. He was waiting outside for Buffy to finish and call him in to help tidy up the mess, never something he was very happy about, but with the soldier spirit inside him begging to get in the battle, he was being torn with need to join the battle and want to follow his friends advice and to stay alive. 

_But enough is enough._ Thought Xander, as he crept toward the entrance Buffy had gone into, almost half an hour ago. As he crept forward, he reviewed the last few minutes, there had been no sound of battle after the first 10 minutes, and wandered if Buffy had won and wanted to be alone in her grief, _never a good idea,_ or if she had lost and even now Angelus had drained her and was waiting for her "White Knight" to show before her snapped her neck, or even worse, turned her.

Xander got to the room containing Athcatla, easily the largest room in the mansion, and peeked in. Not seeing any vampires he looked round properly, and gasped as he saw Buffy lying in the middle of the room, out cold. Throwing caution to the winds, as Buffy lay hurt, possibly dying, Xander raced across the room. Getting to Buffy just in time to hear her groan, Xander fell on his knees beside her. When Buffy made it obvious that she was trying to stand, or at least sit up, despite the fact that she still looked very groggy, he put an arm under hers and helped her to lever herself upright.

The first word out of Buffy's mouth as she came round froze Xander's heart to the core. "Angel" mumbled Buffy. Then more clearly: "Angel, did it work?" "Sorry Buff, no Angelus here," said Xander as he helped her to her feet. "What happened?" asked Buffy. "I would imagine that Angelus beat you and went looking for you friends and family to put you off the Athcatla thing." "Oh my God," replied Buffy, "the Library!"

Xander and Buffy raced off to see if everyone was all right.

*

As Buffy and Xander raced back to the Library, Angelus had got there first. Strolling through the doors of the School, into the Library, full game face on display, he ducked as a bolt came flying from over by the office, signalling that Giles had seen him. 

Angelus vaulted the desk and landed in front of Giles, batting away the cross that the Watcher held up in front of him, and grabbed his arm, bending it to an unnatural angle, hearing bone snap under the pressure as Giles screamed in agony. This alerted Willow and Oz, who had not seen or heard Angelus come in as they were looking for a book in the stacks. The two came running out of the stacks; Willow preparing a spell and Oz leaping on the attack.

Dropping Giles, who was in too much pain to do anything other than moan in torment, Angelus swivelled in time to elbow Oz full in the face, knocking him out cold. 

Willow cried out as she saw Oz collapse in a heap on the floor, disrupting the spell that she had almost finished preparing. Willow had other tricks up her sleeve however, as she pointed at Angelus and cried "Ignis."

Angelus barely had time to turn as he heard Willow, that insufferable little Wiccan-wannabe Hacker bitch scream out the Latin for 'Fire' before the air around him ignited and his coat caught fire. Flailing around trying to get the burning Duster off before it ignited him, Angelus still headed in Willow general direction, and as soon as his duster was on the floor smouldering, lunged toward her, and grabbing her by the hair, bit her neck and started to suck her dry.

            Yet, something else appealed to the demon this time, thinking that both his 'beloved' Buffy, and her White Knight would be distraught at finding their best friend badly hurt and almost dying, and would spend most of their time blaming each other. Then another thought occurred. _If, and when, Willow wakes up, won't it just be the icing on the cake if her 'girls best friend' is a vampire. Yes, I like that idea. And. Oz will want to have revenge on the one person other than him who holds Willows heart, and the one person who has broken it. Xander. Yes. This idea has merit._

            Dropping Willow, who was on the verge of critical blood loss, Angelus moved over to Oz, and picking him up, quickly drained him. Nicking his wrist to let blood flow, Angelus held it up to Oz' mouth, who greedily gulped down the fluid. Angelus reflected:_ It takes a very strong willed person, who at the verge of death chooses to die rather than to continue living, even if continued existence means to be a vampire. Such a pity._ Slinging the prostrate form of Oz over his shoulder, Angelus jumped out the window to watch the show when Buffy and Xander arrived.

*

Buffy powered through the door of the Library, expecting Willow and Oz to say Hi, and possibly Giles to say something other than "How did Patrol go?" but it wasn't going to happen. Instead of three people alive and well around a table all Buffy saw was chaos. A desk smashed, blood all over the floor, and all three people missing.

Xander, in contrast, when he walked in he didn't see the mess, all he saw was the body of his best friend since, well, _ever_ lying in a pool of blood, but a pool piteously small for the wound on her neck, which his soldier-boy experiences from Halloween told him should be much larger for the size of the wound, even if only just caused. 

After phoning for an ambulance, Xander immediately jumped to one conclusion, despite the fact that easy conclusions often caused problems: Angelus did this. Glancing to Buffy, seeing her dong nothing he decided that something had to be done, and so headed into the office to see if he could find blankets or something to cover Willow with. He practically tore the door to the office off its hinges with the rage that was building, which in turn drew Buffy's wrath down on him for being "uncaring." As soon as that word slipped out of her mouth he exploded. He screamed in anger and turned to Buffy "Who do you think did this? Spike? He's too busy fussing after Drusilla. Dru herself? No. She's too weak to pull something like this off. One of Angelus' other henchmen? No! He'd save this honour for himself. Angelus! Your precious 'Angel' did this! The only thing he is an Angel of is Death. Buffy!" "You're wrong Xander, Angel couldn't of done this." Buffy said quietly. "Well, Buffy, what else could he have done? He beats you in a fight, knocks you out! You're lucky you aren't dead now, or even better turned and now trying to help him, and after he beats you he spits on you and splits to remove the one person that could return his 'soul' and stop this mess with Athcatla! And you say that Angelus couldn't do any of this, well, he's done a lot worse than this when he was, and I quote "the scourge of Europe" and more is gonna come if we aren't very careful." As soon as Buffy was coherent and after the verbal savaging she just received, she went on the offensive. "You bastard Xander, blaming everything on Angel. I know Angel; he would never spit on me. Get out of the hormone streak you're in, get a life and a girlfriend and stop trying to force me away from the person I love." Those comments got Xander even more enraged. "You know Buffy, you're right, absolutely right. You do know Angel, or at least you did, because, newsflash; but Angelus ain't the sweet little adorable Deadboy that you apparently fell in 'love' with. And! The other things you mentioned: I do have a girlfriend, and also, I'm all breathing, all the time. I don't burst into flames when the sun touches me and I have a heartbeat. That kind of advertises the fact that I do have a life." Xander finished the tirade with venomous anger and short of breath.

            Just then they heard a moan from the corner where Giles had landed when he had been attacked. But they didn't know that. Buffy got into a classic defensive stance and held her ground. Xander snorted and went to investigate. He discovered Giles in enough of a state to warrant ambulance treatment as well. They just had to wait until they arrived…

*

At the Hospital.

~

Buffy and Xander are sitting on opposite sides of the seating area for emergency room cases, Buffy staring angrily at Xander, and Xander staring adamantly at the wall, with an equally fierce look on his face. Both were thinking: _We've been here hours…_

Both looked up as a doctor walked into the room. "Are either of you with the two that came in from the High School?" asked the doctor tiredly. "Yes" they both replied simultaneously. "OK, well, the man you brought in has a cast on his arm due to it being broken. Quite a bit of work we had getting the bone fragments back in the right places, but its fixed, with only minor loss of motor control. The girl however…" the doctor faded out worriedly. "What about the girl, I mean, Willow?" said Xander both angry and anxious at the same time. Buffy kept quiet. The doctor continued "Well. When she was brought in she had suffered severe loss of blood from the wound on her neck and was entering shock, if the ambulance had taken 10 minutes more she would be dead. We have sealed up the wound on her neck, and taken her blood level back up to normal levels, but there's something else…" again the doctor faded out. "What?" said Xander, his body language clearly saying: _tell me or I'll rip off your arms and give you an enema with them_. The doctor took the hint. "Well, she's in a coma. In it deep. She won't come out of it any time soon, if ever, and only if she wants to." As the first syllable of 'coma' started out of the doctors mouth, Xander sank to his knee's on the hard marble floor of the hospital mumbling 'Willow' incoherently. The doctor looked pointedly at Buffy as his eyes said "get him home." Buffy nodded and knelt down next to Xander. As Buffy reached out to put her arms round his shoulders, however, he recoiled violently, screaming, "don't touch me!" at the top of his voice. He pushed his face in the doctors, and said "Let me see her!" backing down slightly, then continued, "and then I want to talk to Giles." The doctor, obviously perturbed agreed thinking that disagreeing could be a bad career move at this point. Xander stormed off to Willow's room.

*

The walk served to calm Xander down somewhat, but was very surprised when he walked in the room to see Oz already there. "Hi" was all Oz said. Xander spotted a cross on the wall, at reached up to remove it, looking back he saw Oz watching him quizzically and he said "Willow won't like this, she's Jewish" Oz nodded in comprehension. However, as he was getting it down, it slipped, and smacked Oz on the head on the way to the floor. Oz snarled and looked away, and as he looked back, Xander was shocked to see it was the game face of a vampire. "Buffy!" Xander called, causing Oz to run out the room at top speed. Xander followed to the doorway, to see Oz disappear round one corner and Buffy to arrive from the other. "Was that Oz I just saw leave?" asked Buffy. "Yeah. But news, Oz has been turned by Angelus."

Which, of course, started the whole argument again.

*

When Buffy and Xander reached Giles' room, they had stopped bickering for the time being. Giles greeted them with a small smile and a request; "Buffy, could I talk to Xander alone for a few minutes. You can wait outside." "What?" spat Buffy "what can you possibly want to say to Xander that you can't say to me as well?" "Humour me, Buffy." Replied Giles "remember I am your Watcher, and you should obey an order I give you." Almost to himself Giles continued, "but you never have been very good at following instructions" "What is that supposed to mean?" asked Buffy angrily. "Enough, Buffy, Giles and I need to talk." Said Xander, "you can grill him in a few minutes. Now, leave." Buffy left the room, but both men new it was under protest.

"Now, Giles, could you tell me what you have to say that got Buffy more pissed with me than she already is?" said Xander quietly. "Yes, certainly" replied Giles, "you know who attacked us don't you?" It was more a statement than a question. "I have an idea" said Xander "and if it was I'll make him wish he was never even born. Let me take a wild guess: Angelus." Giles winced at hearing the name of the Scourge of Europe but nodded his head in agreement slowly. "I don't want you to do anything foolish, Xander, which is why I asked to talk to you alone so that Buffy wouldn't get involved. Now, tell me what happened on your end tonight." Xander quickly gave Giles the Cliff Notes version of events, about finding Buffy unconscious and everything. "Angelus not killing a defeated opponent, even one who not long before his body remembers loving dearly speaks badly about what he is planning. It may involve Buffy in one form or another." "So what you're saying is that Angelus needs to be removed." Stated Xander. "Well, yes," said Giles, "but if you're thinking of trying anything stupid, don't." "I never told you that I kept my soldier memories from Halloween, did I Giles?" "No." replied Giles "Did you? That could have been dangerous." "Well, I did, and it wasn't, I don't know why I kept the memories when the rest of us lost them after the spell was broken, but it is certainly about to come in handy. I'll get rid of Angelus." "I counsel against it," said Giles, "but, being in a hospital bed, I'm hardly in a position to stop you. Just don't do anything stupid and get killed or turned, because I'll make sure that when I find your soul, I'll stick it in the nastiest demon dimension I can think of." "Thanks, G-Man." Said Xander sarcastically, "I'll remember this pep-talk as the one to end all pep-talks" "Be careful, Xander, don't run into Buffy, and good luck." As Xander turned to walk out the door, Giles called after him "Xander, I forgot to give you something, there will be a small key in my jacket, take it, and use it to open a lock on the floor behind my desk in the library, there's a hidden basement down there, and I stashed some of Ripper's old kit down there. It may come in handy. Again, be careful, come back alive." Xander felt around the pocket, found the key, nodded to Giles, and left.

*

_Boy, would I get in some serious shit if the US army found that I had been raiding their Sunnydale base for the past few months. _Thought Xander, _although the likelihood of them finding out, let alone catching me, is quite slim._

Xander had strewn around his room all the equipment that he had 'liberated' from the base. Pistols, Assault Rifles, Combat knives, Fatigues, Camo gear, body armour and seven different types of ammo, all in nice boxes were laid out on the bed, next to what Xander considered useful from Ripper's Stash. Those items included vials of Holy Water, stakes, a flare gun, a flak jacket and a few antiquated grenades, which Xander fervently hoped would work properly and not blow up in his hand, along with the _piece de resistance_, a claymore mine, complete with 'front toward enemy' motif. What Xander had further gotten tonight was nothing short of amazing, _the bigwigs must have moved a Special Forces Unit here_ thought Xander, as what was gathered was only ever supplied to Special Operations Command troops. An M4 rifle, an MP5 SD3, some flash-bangs and smoke grenades and a silenced SOCOM pistol, which had some sort of special new round developed for it, illegal as hell on the streets, and banned by almost every military international treaty, phosphor coated hollow points. _But, _reflected Xander _if I get caught with any of this stuff by the police the least of my worries is explaining the bullets._

            With that thought, he started to prepare. Poking his head out of his door, he double checked that his parents were snoring soundly from the alcohol haze, shut and locked the door to his room. The soldier personality took over. Quickly fieldstripping each weapon, unsure which yet to use, he oiled the slide, magazine springs and trigger assembly, and put each weapon back together. Weapon maintenance taken care of, he stripped out of his usual clothes and began pulling on the Special Forces Urban Warfare gear that he had collected, bullet proof vest and another urban camo top over it. Xander then prepared the weapons, running through the checklist in his head; _take the SOCOM, its light, accurate and a good deal quieter than the other pistols, with the new rounds it should be quite a treat. _Xander quickly prepared 3 clips of the phosphor bullets, and 2 of standard sub-sonic hollow points, as a second thought he added a clip of magnesium tipped tracer rounds, reasoning that they would probably burn like unholy (or Holy) blazes if they hit while burning. _Take the MP5 rather than the M4, the M4 is too big and, again, makes too much noise, I don't want every damn vamp from here to San Fran knowing where I am when I open up._ On went the MP5 with a shoulder strap and 5 clips of hollow points for it. _I need something for close fighting other than stakes, I'll take the knives._ On went a carbonised Combat knife into a calf sheath on the left, another into a thigh sheath on his right thigh, and a smaller knife as a holdout on the inside of his left arm. _Now, grenades. This bit I like._ Xander hooked the fragmentation and smoke grenades and the flash-bangs onto the uniform, and lightly strapped them down so they didn't make a sound when he walked. The claymore went into a rucksack.

            Slipping on a long coat, to disguise all the weapons, and picking up the rucksack, he exited the house by way of the window.

*

Oz liked his new power, true it was a bit of a downer to have to loose his soul to get it,_ but _he reflected, _now I can do things I could never, would never, do before. Get Xander for hurting my Willow's feelings, make Buffy scream my name like she screamed Angelus' in the throes of passion. And then kill her, of course._ But, best of all, as far as Oz was concerned, _I don't have to wolf out every full moon any more! I can control that part of me._ As vampires went, Oz was odd. He still had the emotional connection to his friends that he had when alive, _weak_ added his demon, his soul may be gone but it had affected the demon controlling his body, to the point where he was almost the same Oz, just now he had the added bonus of a severe allergy to sunlight and Blessed items.

            He had been standing in the corridor for an hour or more, contemplating, and the other vampires had not dared to come near him. The amalgamation of the Wolf and the Demon had made his stronger than Spike, and almost as strong as Angelus. He was nearly as strong as a 240-year-old vampire master. This made the other vampires, especially the 'newborns' as Angelus called them, extremely wary of him.

Oz stalked off to the feeding chamber.

*

Willow opened her eyes to total darkness. Not the sort of total darkness where you can still make out the area around you, but the sort that quite firmly, says, there is absolutely nothing. It wasn't exactly black, just a total absence of colour. Willow had been a witch for too long to be freaked by something so simple as nothingness, _now, _she thought_ if it had been a weird dimension where I had a hundred leering demons around me, then I'd be freaked. Well, if they were male, anyway._ However, there was something slightly unnerving about being totally alone. Looking down, Willow realised that she couldn't see herself, no hands or arms, or legs and feet, as if her mind was free in the thing, surrounding her. 

            Then, Willow heard a voice in her head, realising there was no sound either. The voice sounded like two speaking at once, both male and female, with a touch of anxiety in the male and amusement in the female. 

It said;_ 'bout time you woke up, kid._

_Yeah, kid, you fair gave us a scare when you went into a coma like that, but there is nothing we can do about that now, is there? _Said a second voice, similar to the first, but totally female and extremely sensual.

_I'm sorry. _Willow instantly replied._ Hang on…I'm apologising to you. Why am I doing that? I didn't want to be here and…_

_What you want matters not at all, little one. What Angelus has done is upset the balance of power between good and evil. He, as Angel, was meant to fight for the cause of good not do the horizontal mambo with the 'Slayer' and go all tall, dark and fangy. _Cut in the first voice viciously.

Willow, instead of being insulted, answered with another question._ Why are you talking partly in the style that Xander uses? I mean, its half olde speech and half modern slang._

The second voice replied, _we have seen inside your mind, little one, while you were unconscious in this realm as well as your own. We are using speech mannerisms from your memories to attempt to put you at ease. If you so wish we will cease._

_No, it's OK._ Thought Willow._ You could have warned me about the mind read thing though._

_Child, we cannot keep you here much longer without drawing unwanted attention down on your empty shell. We must tell you what you must do and then leave you to carry them out. Do not, however, ever tell the Slayer about your mission. She will try to stop you. _The second voice echoed in Willow's mind.

_But she's my friend. _Said Willow, _I don't like keeping secrets from my friends. It bad for trust, you know? Anyway, what is this thing I can't tell Buffy, and can I tell anyone else?_

_You may tell Xander, as he is carrying out the first part of the plan, even as we speak, he is closing on Angelus to remove the imbalance. _This was said without emotion by the first voice. _You will forever have a connection to us. It is inseparable. However, do not call upon us too often, child, or your mind will be vulnerable to creatures from the thirteen hell planes. Other than this, if the one named Xander survives his plan, aid him in preference to aiding Buffy. Pray he does not fail._

_Go back now, child, before your body is possessed. _The second voice added.

_No…_started Willow, but then her mind was shunted back into her body.

In the hospital, Willow sat up violently, screaming her head off.

*

Xander knelt over one of the skylights in the warehouse Angelus was using as his base after being run out of his Mansion.

            Checking over his equipment one last time before going in, he nodded and carefully opened the window of the skylight. Looking in quickly, Xander saw several vampires sucking blood out of some prisoners chained in the corner. Pulling the pin of a flash bang, he dropped it into the room, and before it had landed, dropped a second flash bang and had a smoke grenade and a fragmentation grenade ready to drop.

He let go of both as the flash bangs detonated.

*

Oz was just walking into the feeding chamber as he saw something drop from the ceiling. While human, he had spent quite a bit of time talking to Xander about his Halloween experience, and knew a flash bang when he saw one, his demon did not know what to do but the remnants of his human mind told him: "Down! Eye's closed turn away, and run once it's detonated!"

            Turning quickly as the flash bang number one went off, Oz ran out of the room toward his own. The fledgling vampires would have to deal with what this turn of events dealt them themselves. Not once did running to Angelus cross his mind only to prepare to escape.

*


	5. Journey of Discovery Original: Chapter 2

Sorry about the abrupt end to the last chapter, but my writing speed had slowed down to a crawl thinking about what to do when Xander leaves. I've got it now.

On we go. I've just started writing. Thanks for the great reviews. Makes me want to continue. On the grammar sucks note: I need a beta reader. Want to volunteer? E-mail me: paradigmshifter2001@yahoo.com 

~

*

Xander could hear the screams of the vampires below as he lowered a rope and rappelled down it. Landing lightly on his feet, Xander dropped into a crouch and readied his MP5. A few of the vampires had been blown to bits by the fragmentation grenade. The five remaining were congregated around a few gathered victims at one end of the room, and rolling around on the floor trying to clear their eyes. Xander never gave them the chance to see him. Aiming carefully, Xander flicked the selector switch on the MP5 to 3 round burst and fired at each vamps head. Half a clip later, 5 vamps were dust on the ground, and it left Xander thinking, _damn. And people say bullets don't work on undead. _The whole thing took all of fifteen seconds.

            Xander headed for the door and the rest of Angelus' warehouse.

*

Nurse Roe was alerted to the awakening of the new patient in the coma unit by a scream coming from her room. Jumping up from her seat, she ran to room 13A, and peaked inside. The patient was sitting up with wide eyes babbling quietly to herself. To Nurse Roe, it did not sound like the patient had her mind in one piece. She quietly approached the bed to try to settle the patient down. She made a mental note to herself:_ I must ask this patient her name! Referring to her as 'the patient' is annoying._

Willow was freaked. The conversation she had with the 'spirits' was way beyond any experience the young Wicca had. It had left her confused, disorientated and angry. Confused about the reasons the 'spirits' had for getting her to support Xander instead of Buffy._ After all, Xander's just an ordinary guy, right? What can he do?_ Willow asked herself. Disorientated by the place that they had been in. A_s much as I hate to admit it, that total nothing was very scary._ Angry that the 'spirits' had such control over her to push her back to her body when she was trying her hardest to remain and ask more questions. But if they were right about the possession thing then she could only thank her lucky stars that they did. And, on reflection, Willow was also glad that if they were that powerful, that they were on her side.

As Willow tried to stand up, she noticed the Nurse standing in the doorway, looking at her, not fearfully, not quite, but very nearly. Willow smiled at her and started to swing her legs over the side of the bed to stand. Her feet touched the floor, and as she levered off the bed her legs collapsed on her and she fell on the floor on hands and knees. The nurse rushed forward to help her and as she reached Willow, the first voice sounded again in her mind._ Little one. The talk with us in our own plane has tired your body more that I wish to explain. To get your strength back, eat and rest. Xander does not need you yet, but when he does, he will need you at your strongest._

"OK." Said Willow, blinking and trying not to loose the sparse contents of her stomach. As the nurse helped her up, with an "are you alright? Can you remember your name? You have been in a coma for a few hours. It was so deep; the doctors doubted that you would ever come out of it. Lie down on the bed. I'll get the doctor. I won't be long." With that the nurse left. 

Willow fell into a deep sleep.

*

Stalking through the shadows of the warehouse, and doubting that they would make a difference as to whether the vamps saw him or not, Xander was getting increasingly paranoid. After the feeding room, he had not found a single vamp anywhere, and he had covered half the building. The soldier personality whispered to his mind that the vampires were setting an ambush ahead, which he took careful note of, while the Hyena mind was repeating the same words over and over again. 

_Hunt. _

_Kill._

_Feed. _

_I am the Alpha competitors must be vanquished. _

_Hunt. _

_Kill. _

_Kill. _

_Feed._

It was starting to override conscious thought. He was loosing his mind in the other two. Peeking round a corner, Xander saw Oz, in full vamp mode, turn and enter a room. 

Suddenly, from that room, came snarls, and howls as if someone or something was getting torn apart. 

Silently moving up to the door, Xander quickly looked in.

And recoiled from what he saw.

_Oh. My. God. _Oz, in full werewolf mode was tearing about ten vamps apart so violently it was as if he had a personal grudge against them. Xander heard the quiet 'poof' as a vamp exploded into dust, and then three more so quickly it sounded like they were standing next to each other in a line.

            About a minute later, the sound of fighting stopped, and Xander risked a peep into the room.

Xander saw Oz, standing in the middle of the room, now human rather than wolf, and he couldn't resist a low whistle at the piles of dust that decorated the room. Of course, at that, Oz whirled around and vamped out when he saw another opponent. Xander raised his MP5 as a precaution. _After all, this vamp just killed ten others in less time than it takes Willow to babble 'hi'._

Oz just tilted his head and looked at him. "Hey, man" he said in his usual voice, "what's the popgun for?" "Killing Angelus" replied Xander, "although if you care to volunteer, I'll let you be a trial run." "No thanks, man," snapped back Oz "I want to hurt you for hurting Willow, but with me like this, I have to expect you'll look after her. I don't want her hurt more. Thanks to the wolf, I have a semblance of control over the demon in me. I'm more Oz than Demon. That is the only thing saving you. I'm out of here." With that, Oz ran past Xander and back the way Xander had come. _At least he won't warn Angelus_ thought Xander. _But I'll have to get him if he becomes a danger to my friends._

Xander changed the clip in the MP5 to a fresh one, and started on his way again.

*

Willow opened her eyes to an alien landscape.

"Where am I?" Willow asked out loud. An apparition appeared in front of her, alabaster white, with the same colour robes and hair which floated as if there was wind, while there was none. It spoke into her mind: _young one, do not speak out loud. It attracts those you wish to avoid. Do you see those mountains in the distance?_

_Yes. _Replied Willow.

_Go there for answers. _Continued the spirit, while starting to fade.

_Wait! _Called Willow, _where am I?_

_That I may tell you, this is the Dream, the End of our race, our greatest sorrow. Complete the tasks given you, and you shall have power to help that whom you love. Save us. Free us. For the tests, seek answers in your heart._

It faded totally, leaving Willow wandering what to do. _Well, it did say answers were in the Mountains. I'll head there._ With that thought, Willow headed into the distance.

*

Xander came to the last room in the warehouse. _Here be Angelus._ His Hyena mind said. _Kill. Do not feed. Dead meat is bad meat._

            Xander stepped into the first room, and, seeing nothing of import, headed for the later rooms, MP5 ready at all times. Poking his head round the bedchamber entrance, Xander saw his greatest shock of the night.

Angelus. In bed. Naked. With a blonde vamp riding him hard.

"Buffy" said Xander.

At the interruption, the blonde vamp turned violently toward the door and snarled. Her face told Xander that he was wrong it wasn't Buffy. However, Xander could tell that Angelus picked her as his 'partner' for the likeness.

"What's wrong, pet?" asked Angelus "what's got your attention?" with this Angelus sat up and seeing Xander decked out in full military gear, quickly had to school his face away from shock and to an angered snarl.

"This is it Angel, I've had enough of your terrorising Buffy and my friends." Spat Xander with venom in his voice. "You're going to hell on a one way express ticket."

"Not likely." Replied Angelus, flinging his flavour of the hour at Xander, he spun up out of the bed, grabbed his pants and coat and fled out the second door.

Xander missed most of the escape, seeing only which door Angelus went through as he had a hundred pounds of pissed vamp heading toward him. Without thinking, he dropped to a crouch and fired at her head while she was in mid air. The speed of the shot meant that two of the rounds missed her head, one missing wide and burying itself in the wall, the other hitting in the shoulder. The third, however, was a perfect shot, and hit square in the forehead, turning her to dust. Xander coughed and looked around. _I wonder if vamp dust is as bad for your health as smoking? 'Cause I just got a lungful._ With that thought, he began hunting Angelus. "Here Angelus, here boy, nice juicy hu-man." Xander sing-songed as he walked along. _Probably not the brightest idea to advertise your position, kid. _Whispered that soldier in his mind. Which promptly made Xander shut up.

*

Sorry about the short chapter this time, but the next chapter will have Willow continuing her trek, and Xander having the showdown fight with Angelus. May be a while however. Lots of work to do. We might even have a quick look at how Buffy's doing. But I can't guarantee it. I need someone to bounce ideas off of about the other fic I'm working on. Say if interested. Finally, thanks to all my reviewers. Ideas for Xander/Angelus fight welcomed. I don't think the action scenes are all that.


	6. Journey of Discovery Original: Chapter 3

Yet another cliff-hanger ended the last instalment. And it was short. But that's to be expected, I put it together in just under two hours. This will be longer, and hopefully finish the 'prologue' which is practically a story in its own right. Reviews are addictive. Again, thanks to all my reviewers. You're great. Enough blather, on with the story.

~

*

Buffy was distraught. Giles had brushed her off at the hospital after Xander had left, and she wanted to know why. All her questions had been met with evasions or outright denials of knowledge. _What was Xander up to? Where had Oz gone? Why did Angel leave me alive after he beat me? To toy with my mind again?_ All these questions and more were spinning through Buffy's head like a tornado.

_Don't I owe Xander? After all he was helping me when I went into Angel's warehouse. No. I need to get my feelings for Angel sorted out before I can feel for someone else. Anyway, didn't I brush Xander off at the spring fling? How can he have feelings for me still after that?_

Buffy was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice Spike saunter out of a bar right in front of her. "Hey, Slayer, what are you doing in this neighbourhood alone?" asked Spike with a hint of a leer. "Right now, Spike, I'm not doing anything, but that can change if you care to volunteer as my new punching bag. My last one broke. I punched it too hard." Deadpanned Buffy. "I'm really not in the mood for vamp killing Spike, so get out of my sight." "OK, Slayer, I just thought maybe you might want to know that me an' Dru are heading out of Sunnydale. It's getting too hot here, what with your boyfriend bashing the place up." Replied Spike. The line about Drusilla made Buffy curious, "how do you intend to get Dru out of Sunnydale? She's so infatuated with Angel that you couldn't drag her away if she was dead," a hint of Buffy's old fun crept into her voice "oh, I forgot, she already is." "I'll choose to ignore that last comment Slayer, I've wised up since I got here. 'Don't go attacking apparently helpless little blonde girls, they turn out to be the Slayer, which hurts. A lot." Buffy grinned "anyway, I'm getting out of Sunnydale, with Dru, if I have to drag her kicking and screaming into the next state. See ya round, Slayer." With that, Spike walked off and quickly disappeared into the early morning darkness.

            Buffy was left standing in the street, staring after Spike like an idiot.

*

Willow was getting frantic. None of her magic worked. The 'apparition' hadn't warned her about that. She had passing glimpses of the creatures that inhabited this planet, tall bipedal, they looked a bit like a chaos demon. Only blue. All looks had been from a distance, as something was blocking her presence from them, which she could only be thankful for. They appeared to hunt their food in huge packs, and when they found prey to kill they tore it apart in such a vicious display it reminded her of the way the raptors in Jurassic Park did just the same thing. _Whatever those things are, I don't want to have a closer look. _Realising she had stopped walking to think to herself, Willow started trudging toward the mountain range again.

*

Xander had been ambushed by groups of vamps as he tailed Angelus. Which didn't bother him particularly, but had taken its toll on his ammunition supply. He had run out of clips for the MP5 after the first attack, which had composed of more vampires than Xander had encountered for the past week solid. Xander had succeeded in taking them all down with only a slight physical losses, but reflected _if there had been two more vamps, or one less clip, I'd now either be one of them, or a finished Happy Meal. As it is, they may have hurt me enough to make killing Angelus difficult if I have to go hand-to-hand. _The first vamp, to try to take him by surprise had dived out of doorway, which just succeeded in letting the vamp meet the opposite wall as Xander rolled out of the way, but during the roll, Xander twisted his knee slightly, making him limp as he walked.

After that incident, Xander discarded the MP5. With no ammunition, it was just a dead weight.

The second and third groups had been much smaller, comprising of only two or three vamps apiece. Most seem to have been in the first wave, to take him down by sheer numbers.

_Where the hell is this bastard going? _Thought Xander. _He seems to be heading back for the entrance…_

_…Oh, shit!_

Xander increased his pace. Heading for the main entrance, while pulling his backpack off to remove the claymore. _A little surprise for any vamp that wants to try blindsiding me._ Xander sniggered. _That would be a good light display. I wonder if Sunnydale P.D. would ever work it out?_ He asked himself sarcastically.

*

Willow had reached the first mountain path, she paused to look back at the place she had come from, and saw a couple of hundred of the blue creatures having a fight over something there. _ I hope none of my friends are here as well, _she prayed silently.

Turning back to the mountain path, Willow jumped out of her skin when another white apparition appeared out of nowhere. This was not the same one, however. Short this time, with the same diaphanous robes and hair, and the white seemed to have darkened slightly, to a very pale grey. It was floating about two feet off the ground.

_What is hate? Answer! _The spirit projected angrily into her mind.

_Huh? _Thought Willow, _what are you asking me?_

The first spirit, the one that had appeared when she arrived at this God forsaken place now appeared before the questioner. _This is the first trial, child. To pass you must answer. Be careful how you answer, however. You have unlimited time to answer, but only two tries. Use your heart that usually works._

_Usually? _Asked Willow sceptically. _What if it doesn't?_

_Then you still have one answer left, _replied the spirit, _may luck and all the Gods watch over you child. I cannot come again, but once the spirit has been answered correctly, you may ask them that which you require. Goodbye._ With that, it vanished, leaving Willow feeling like a friend had just disappeared.

_What is hate? Answer! _Restated the spirit irritably.

Willow searched her heart for the answer. _Poison. _Responded Willow. _Hatred of another kills a little part of us every day._

_Correct. _Stated the spirit._ What do you require?_

_What are those things out there? _Replied Willow, waving her hand vaguely in the direction she had come from.

_Is that all, child?_

_Yes. For now. _Willow thought.

_Very well, child. They are the ravagers, the cause of our fall. They came, and we were too interested in studying them to believe them any serious threat. They proved us wrong. They themselves were only interested in destroying anything they could not control. The planet was once rich and verdant, until they destroyed it. We have no further information about any of them. Now they fight each other to get the few remaining sources of food, yet you are somehow immune to them. You do not attract them the way every other form of life does._

_I am not from this planet. _Replied Willow as a possible explanation.

_That may be the reason that they have not found you, child_

_I hope it is. I must continue now._

_Very well child. _The spirit said in her mind. _Child! If you are not from this plane, your body is not real here. Your true body will remain in a state of deep trance, coma like, until you complete your tasks here._

_What if I fail? _Asked Willow carefully.

_Simply, child, do not fail. _Ended the spirit.

*

Buffy had just reached the drive of her home when her mother rushed out of the door to meet her. "What do you think you're doing, young lady, staying out until 3:30 in the morning?" Joyce exclaimed "you get inside right this minute before I… I… oh, Buffy! Why were you out so late?" "Giles and Willow are in the hospital mom." Said Buffy quietly, causing Joyce to gasp quietly and cover her mouth with her hand. "Some vamps decided to crash a research party we had going. Me and Xander weren't there. We were out looking for Angel." "The ex-boyfriend that's gone all psychotic stalker on you?" Joyce asked, "Why were you looking for him? He seems pretty good at finding you himself." "I know, mom…" started Buffy, but stopped when she noticed Angel running down the road toward her and her mother. "Mom, get inside. NOW." Buffy said forcefully, "Angel's coming!"

Buffy was right. Angel was running down Rovello Drive, in an attempt to get a very pissed Xander off his tail. Fear was a completely new emotion to Angelus, before; he had been the one inspiring fear in others. To have one whom he should be terrorising making him run like a frightened child was a new experience. It didn't help that Xander had survived four vamp ambushes that he had set up, and was stalking him how a wild animal would stalk its prey. Coupled with the cold precision a veteran soldier uses when angered, Angelus was more than a tad concerned that if it came to an out-and-out fight, he would lose… 

…But not without taking Xander down with him.

When Angelus spotted Buffy standing on her front lawn with her mother, he quickly formulated a plan. _I can use the animosity between Buffy and Xander about me to my advantage. Confuse Buffy. It's easily done at the best of times, but now it should be a complete walkover. Either get Xander fighting her, or use her as a distraction while I prepare to destroy Xander._ Angelus put on his hurt face, and cried out in thanks as he neared Buffy. "Oh, Buffy, thank God I've found you. Xander's gone mad. Giles and Willow managed to cast the spell before Angelus' vamps got to the Library. I've got my soul back, but Xander won't believe me and is trying to kill me! He got all of Angelus' vampires and I only just escaped with my life, so to speak, help me!" "Oh, Angel!" cried Buffy rushing to him, "I'll talk some sense into Xander. Wait over by the house while I try to explain." Angelus fake limped over to the entrance of the house, watching Joyce to see if she saw past his deception. _Buffy could almost be thought of as simple, _thought Angelus._ She's so blinded by love for a person she will never truly know that she is willing to throw away all her friends. Pitiful._

On cue, Xander ran around the curve in the road, limping slightly, but not enough to slow him down. _Jeez, this guys a regular G.I Joe. _Thought Angelus. Buffy ran forward to meet him in the street, and Angelus took that as the indication that it was time to leave. 

The demon stopped him. _See what your enemy is capable of. _It whispered into his mind._ If he can turn on his friends in an effort to reach a goal, he is truly a dangerous foe. Watch. Learn. You may need the knowledge in the future._ So Angelus found a convenient tree and swung up into the branches to watch.

Xander was in full soldier mode as Buffy neared him. He nearly mistook her for another vamp and opened fire. Nearly. Raising the SOCOM pistol, Xander sighted down it at the head of the body and his finger started to tighten on the trigger. "Xander!" the exclamation from the blonde head shocked him out of hunting mode, as both the soldier and Hyena personalities called it and he focussed on the face. "Buffy?" asked Xander. "What are you doing? Get out of my way! I need to kill Angelus." "Xander, no! He's Angel again. Giles and Willow succeeded on the spell. He has his soul back. And is running scared because you've gone all psycho-soldier on him. I won't let you hurt him. I'll defend him myself if I must, and I won't be gentle." 

Xander seemed to be thinking, tilting his head to the side, and looking into the distance. "Gee, Buff, you really have fallen for his shit, hook, line, sinker, rod and copy of 'Angling Times' haven't you? I've been hunting him for all of three hours, and not an hour ago he was rutting in the hay with his vamp flavour of the month, who he sacrificed because I got too close to his personal space. He's still the bad old Angelus who ran out on you."

At this point, Joyce had come up to the two teens, and having heard most of the conversation, as it was said rather loud. Joyce wondered if the neighbourhood would wake up, but then remembered that Sunnydale residents were rather good at ignoring any unusual sounds in the night. "Buffy, Xander, don't you think both of you are over reacting slightly? I mean, Buffy, you're willing to attack one of your best friends to protect someone who, frankly, I don't think is worth protecting. And Xander, you are decked out in enough military hardware to make Rambo jealous." Xander cut in, "you're right Mrs. S, but he got me really riled and I just wanted to go hunting." While saying this he was thinking, _I'm saying this to shut you up, but I'm still gonna kill the bastard._ Then Buffy cut in "I still won't let you hurt him Xander." To which, Xander responded only by shifting his stance, which clearly advertised 'you and what army, slayer?' Joyce noticed the subtle shift in body language from Xander, and was disturbed by this, quickly saying "Buffy, why don't you go inside now? Xander, I think you had better go home." Buffy looked about to argue, but a look from Joyce stopped her, and she headed in. "Sure, OK, Mrs. S," said Xander "I'd better go home now, too."_ But not before I find Angelus_ he finished in his mind. Xander took off at a loping trot, shifting into a sniper run after he was round the corner and spotted Angelus in the distance, heading to his mansion. That was the only building in that direction.

*

Continuing up the mountain path had been quite tiring for Willow, as she had never been one for physical activity, preferring books and study to gymnastics and running. As she reached a cave, another spirit arrived in front of her, asking her the next question.

_What is pride? Answer!_

Willow was unsure about this answer. She tried the first idea that came to her._ Pride is that which again destroys a part of us if we entertain it. For inevitably, there will be someone to prove we are not the best, and with that proof will be our downfall._

_Correct. _Intoned the spirit._ Remember: There Is Always Someone Stronger. _The voice modulated slightly, _the nature of the test changes from here, child. After each answer has been made, the path will test your truthfulness to the answer. Beware._

_Thank you. _Finished Willow and continued on. Soon the path narrowed, and then forked, to the right, and to the left. _What does this have to do with the test? _Thought Willow _unless…_

…the path to the right cannot be the correct one, as pride can come from being correct, or right. So I choose the left fork. 

As soon as Willow put her foot on the left fork, the right shimmered, and disappeared to be replaced by a sheer drop down a cliff. It was not a small drop, at least 300 metres. She would have been killed the instant she landed. _Whoa! _Thought Willow looking down at the drop. _These tests are deadly!_

After walking about another two miles, Willow encountered another apparition.

_What is Justice? Answer!_

This one was easy. It was in a book she had read, and agreed with the comment whole-heartedly._ Justice is a thing for which we will be forever thirsty, and will be forever parched. We content ourselves with Law. There will never be a thing such as true Natural Justice, good things will happen to bad people, and bad things will happen to good people, it's the way it has to be. Order toward entropy, not the other way around._

_Correct. Continue._

Willow walked past the spirit, and continued as told along the path. After a short time, cresting the brow of the mountain, Willow looked down into a valley, which appeared completely annihilated. Taking a further step, Willow had to jump back at the sudden appearance of a jet-black spirit, so dark it appeared to suck the light out of the surrounding area. This spirit intoned:

The tests are over child, except one. Do you wish to take this final test? The penalty for failure is death.

_I have no choice. _Replied Willow.

_You will forever have a choice if you pass this final test, _the spirit answered, _and if you fail, you will have little need for choice._

_What is the question? _Asked Willow irritably.

No question, little one, but a test of faith and trust in whichever Gods you believe in. Walk forward.

Willow did as told, praying to every God and Goddess she could name to protect her. None answered. But then, none ever did. As she walked, Willow noticed a rapid deterioration in the ground. Cracks growing, mud starting to bubble and seethe as she walked past, and looking back, as she had not been told not to, saw that about five steps behind her the path was being eaten by lava. She struggled not to speed up, to remain walking at a constant pace, to believe that the Gods would protect her. It was hard, however, Gods it was hard. Willow could feel the searing heat of the lava on her back, seemingly trying to make her lose her 'cool'. Up ahead she saw a widening of the path, into a circular area of ground in an ocean, it seemed, of lava. Reaching the middle of the disk, she turned to see that the path had stopped dissolving at the edge of the area.

The first two spirits she had talked to in the blackness reappeared in front of her. They appeared human, and solid. The first spoke, in that disconcerting double voice, and said, out loud. "Child, in this area we are safe from the ravagers. They will not enter. Shortly, you may leave this place to head back to your 'earth' yet to get home you must have help. We are the Powers That Be, those who watch, and occasionally get involved in the balance between good and evil." The second started talking and went off at a tangent "Although we do like to have servants in the realms of humanity, they are not always useful. As you have passed the tests in this forsaken place we call home, or used to at any rate, you are considered worthy. We wish to use you as our power on earth."

"What!" squeaked Willow "you mean, you want me to become some sort of servant?"

"No, not that. We just want to use your eyes to witness what will come. With Angelus stalking the earth again, the balance was shifted to evil, which made good compensate by calling your friend, Alexander, to battle. He had the knowledge and the skills, if not gained correctly. Good had to recruit him before he could be twisted to evil. He is closing on Angelus. Soon Angelus will die, and we want to see what evil picks to play as the King next."

"You're telling me that our lives are some cosmic game of Chess!" Willow said, "All of life is just some game!"

"Not quite, child. You have free will, but occasionally, the Gods interpose and push your life in a direction it would never have taken by itself. Not without very dire circumstances, at any rate."

The first cut in again "The forces of good always seem to think that the universe must inherently be good, and that life must strive for goodness. Evil thinks that all is against it, while what we truly seek is balance between the two. Not entirely good, nor entirely evil. Equilibrium." 

"I'll be your eyes," said Willow, "but right now I just want to get back to my body."

"Very well child. To return, you must become more adept at magic than you are. If you will permit, allow us to add to your knowledge, and your power."

Willow just nodded mutely. The two powers surrounded her with their arms and started chanting.

*

Norse Roe was upset. After seeing the patient wake up, she left to get the doctor on duty, and spent nearly 20 minutes persuading him that, yes, the patient was awake, and, no, she wasn't hallucinating or on drugs. And then, when they arrived at the room, her charge was out like a light again, and had the brain wave patterns of someone in a very deep coma, but with the odd spike here or there, seemingly random, which imitated normal brain activity.

Then she proceeded to sit up again. Moaning and clutching her head, muttering something about 'if I'd known it was going to be that painful I would've stayed where I was' and then muttering a few curses to various Gods in several different languages, none of which Nurse Roe could understand. Then, to put the icing on the cake, after she sat up, she swung her legs over the side and stood up. 

Willow looked quizzically at Nurse Roe, then smiled and said, "Where are my clothes? I'm getting out of here." Nurse Roe was so surprised she just pointed at the wardrobe where her clothes had been stored and watched dumbfounded as Willow put them on casually and strolled out of the room.

_That was easy_ thought Willow _I barely even tried to confuse her long enough to get out without argument, and she stood there like someone had kicked her puppy._

Willow headed home.

*

OK. That's the end of this chapter. The next will follow soon, probably tomorrow, and will concentrate on the Xander/Angelus fight that's been begging to happen. Willow doesn't find Xander. He wants to work solo for a while. Again thanks to my reviewers. Feedback fuels chapters.

Author's note2: With hindsight, I'm not very pleased with the way this chapter turned out. I've taken the characters in directions I'm not sure they will go properly. I've been rereading/writing this for about 5 days and I'm still not happy. I'll finish the prologue then analyse how it's going. I'm also going to edit the previous chapters and format them better. And my A-levels are coming up in a week. It may be a while until the next chapter.


	7. Journey of Discovery Original: Chapter 4

Here is the fourth instalment of the 'intro' of Journey of Discovery. Basically it's just what has been brewing for the previous three chapters. Thanks to all reviewers, I'll name you all at some point. Sorry about taking so long to post it, but A-levels had started, and time was lacking. Then I got a job, and time still lacked. Then the results came out, and I was wallowing in self pity.

~

*

Xander had reached the entrance to the grounds of Angelus' mansion. He paused. Something didn't seem right. _Almost as if…_

Xander leaned forward and picked up a stick. Throwing it lightly at the fence, Xander winced as the stick made contact with the metal…

…and did nothing except fall to the ground. _OK, I'm getting paranoid in my old age. _Thought Xander sarcastically. _But I'm sure he will have some surprises for me in this place. You don't survive 240 years by being stupid. Then again, to get turned you have to show a degree of stupidity._

Xander, confident that there would be no more traps outside, pulled his SOCOM and, checking the chamber, walked through the gate and round the side of the building. _Sure to be traps in the main entrance._

Just then he heard Angelus' voice echo round the yard. "Be careful where you step, Xander." Said Angelus voice in a playful tone.

Xander's only reply was, "come out and face me you chicken-shit bastard!" which got him nowhere. The courtyard was empty. It did, however, get the attention of both his soldier personality and the Hyena. Both said approximately the same thing; _he's trying to get you to fuck-up by making you angry and disoriented. Don't let him get to you._ The soldier said it in military jargon and the Hyena said it with a predator's appreciation of tactics. _Easy for you to say,_ replied Xander. 

Xander got to the back door and jimmied the lock with one of his combat knives. _ Nice way to treat your kit, kid._ Chastised the soldier. _Shut it. _Replied Xander._ It got me in didn't it?_ There was no response. Xander started his trek into the bowels of Angelus' mansion.

*

Oz had hijacked a car with dark glass that had been driving past as he was walking down the main road out of Sunnydale. He decided to bail to get some time to sort out the 'issue' of becoming a vampire. _I have become what I spent 3 months fighting._

Now driving at break-neck speed down the interstate. He thought back to the young couple that had previously occupied the car and cracked a small smile. _A jock and his girl. _Oz thought, _he nearly shit his pants when I pulled his girlfriend out the closed window of the car. _Pulling the girl out had of course, made her scalp bleed somewhat profusely. _And once the demon got a whiff of blood it just had to feed. Sunnydale P.D. will find those two with severe blood loss in about 2 hours. _Oz had managed to exert enough influence on the demon to stop it from feeding to satiation and killing the two by sucking all their blood, but only just. _I need to get away from people._ Oz stated to himself _only that way can I stop the demon from hurting innocents. But it was pretty fun. Maybe I should just go somewhere where there are lots of people no one will miss… _

_…New York should be a good place. Lots of bums, druggies and 'undesirables'. I could help clean up the city. Yes. Why not?_

*

There were no vamps in the whole of Angelus' mansion. 

_So why did you bring me here? _Thought Xander, _unless you have a surprise planned. _a figure appeared in Xander's vision as he rounded a corner. Xander double tapped it before he could stop himself. 

It was a suit of armour.

_Shit! What the fuck, Kid! You jumping at frigging shadows now? _Screamed his soldier personality in his head. _Keep going like this and you'll waste all you're fucking ammo on nothing before you reach Angelus!_

Angelus mocking voice echoed soldier-boys thoughts, "Aww. Is Xander jumping at things that aren't there?" his voice shifted pitch, becoming cold and deadly, "How do you think you can fight me, White Knight? Remember, kill me and you wont have the Princess to protect you anymore." 

_I'll deal._ Said all three of Xander at the same time._ I still love Buffy, but if losing her is the price I must pay to remove you, so be it. _ Xander holstered his pistol and drew his thigh combat knife, so that if he jumped at nothing again, he didn't waste bullets. _Good, Kid. _The soldier praised him. _But be ready to pull it if the big bad decides to show. _

Xander stalked up the staircase, keeping to the left to avoid the middle of the steps, in this business, paranoia kept you alive.

*

Buffy was sitting at home with her mother, watching the television on a 'girl's night in' except that her mother was stonily silent. Joyce was asking herself a lot of questions. _What was Xander, of all people doing dressed like that? He looked as if he was about to go on manoeuvres. Why was Buffy trying to stop him? Why did Angel run up and say Xander was going to kill him? Xander couldn't kill Angel, even if he did have a soul, Angel could protect himself from Xander. Unless…Angel really was Angelus, and was just using Buffy's love for him to slow Xander down enough to give him a nasty surprise. A sort of diversionary tactic. Would he be that devious? Yes. Who can I get to help Xander? Buffy won't do it because she still loves Angel, hell, even I can tell that, I'm not blind like Buffy seems to think I am. I should have confronted her about this a long time ago, but I didn't, and this is where we are now, so no turning back, just make the best of a bad job, and hope it turns out all right._

Buffy, for her part was pretending to watch the TV while asking herself a similar amount of questions. _How did Willow complete the soul curse so fast? Angel wouldn't lie to me would he? _At this question, Buffy's love for the vampire overrode her common sense, and denied the fact that Angelus would have lied to her to turn her against her friends. _Where the hell did Xander get all of that military grade equipment? Did he rob the army base again? He is in so much trouble if I find he did. Is he going after Angel? And why? To get revenge on his minions for what they did to Willow? 'Cause Angel couldn't have done that to her. _Again, her love for Angel overrode the obvious answer: that Angel was not Angel but still Angelus._ I've got to find Xander before he does something he can't undo._

"I'm gonna go out for a while, mom. I'll be back soon." Buffy suddenly announced as she got up.

"Oh, no, you're not!" replied Joyce, "sit back down and behave or go to your room and cool off there, but you are not going looking for Angel or Xander now, honey."

Buffy started walking in the direction of the stairs. As she reached the bottom, Joyce called out again, "and don't think you can sneak out of your bedroom window, missy! I know you do that a lot. Just for once, let your mind rule instead of your heart."

Buffy nearly choked at that final comment, such an innocent throw away, but all the same quite a painful one. With a final withering glance at the back of her mother's head, Buffy stalked up stairs to bed, at 5 in the morning.

*

Xander had made it into the final wing of the mansion, and was beginning to wish that the sun wasn't starting to rise, because, as both his soldier and hyena mentalities pointed out, _enemies are at their most dangerous when they have nowhere left to run. _And Angelus has nowhere to run. Sun up, so he can't go out again, and this is the only entrance to this part of the mansion, so he's cut off. _Unless he has some sort of escape route in the wing_ whispered his soldier mind, the eternal pessimist. _ If he has, _Xander thought back, _I'll just have to pursue him through it. Again._

Xander reached the far end of the wing without incident, and swore when he saw the drain cover lying open in the middle of the room. _Oh, if that doesn't advertise 'come get me, I'm here' I can suck my own cock. _Said the soldier mind, _watch out, kid, this is definitely a trap. _Xander almost giggled, _No Shit! _He thought back sarcastically.

_Hey, kid, you've got a couple of grenades left haven't you? _Asked the soldier, _throw 'em down the drain so that if Angelus is waiting to jump you he'll get a surprise._

_Nice! _Thought back Xander. _He'll be waiting. Lets see if we can't crispy fry this annoying vamp. _

Xander pulled both pins on the grenades and dropped them down the sewer entrance, quickly moving away so that the concussion didn't disorient him. Five seconds, and two dull thumps later, Xander dropped down the sewer entrance with pistol drawn and the Hyena mind clamouring to help him see better in the dark. _OK, go ahead, _Xander said to his Hyena counterpart, _as long as it doesn't distract my ability to think. _The Hyena snickered insanely and leapt to the fore of Xander's mind, bringing with it far better night vision, and even enhanced ability to smell Angelus. Not that that really helped here, as the smell of the sewer was so overpowering, Xander couldn't have smelt Angelus if he had been an inch from his nose.

The soldier mind struggled to get through to him for a second, _remember, kid, that sewers echo badly and you can never tell how far away a sound is. But that goes for Angelus as well._ As if to prove a point, Angelus' voice drifted down the pipe to Xander, made hollow and tinny by the echo and enclosed pipe. "Oh, Xander, come get me! You didn't really think that I would fall for the 'grenade first' approach did you?" _no, but I could hope couldn't I? _Xander snarled in his head, and started toward the sound a quietly as he could.

*

Giles checked himself out of the Hospital at 6 am. Both of the doctors assigned to him were adamant that he should not leave but he signed himself out regardless. As with his time as 'Ripper' Giles always healed relatively fast for a 'normal' person, possibly as a result of some of the spells that Ripper had cast in his heyday.

Giles was driving down the road leading back to his apartment when he noticed a pair of legs sticking out of a bush at the edge of the road. He was, after all, a Watcher and his job was to observe. Pulling over, he checked that he had a stake and vials of Holy water ready, more Holy water than stakes because he really didn't feel up to being terribly physical at the time. Getting out of his 'classic' car (which basically meant that he had had it for decades and hadn't yet worked up the courage to admit it was a pile of shit and get a new one, as it was falling apart, practically at the welding joints.) heading over to the bush with a vial of Holy water ready just in case some nasty decided to jump him, he knelt down after assuring himself that there was no real danger. 

What he discovered was definitely not what he expected.

A young man, in his late teens, possibly early twenties, and a young lady, also around school leaving age or college age lying in a pool of blood, which appeared to be coming from the young lady's scalp. It was still bleeding profusely.

_Shit! _Thought Giles, _capillary bleeding doesn't stop. I have to get that wound to stop bleeding before she bleeds to death. _

Rushing back to his car, Giles grabbed the first aid kit and headed toward the couple on the ground. Wrapping the woman's head in a bandage to slow the bleeding, Giles then turned his attention on the young man. 

He didn't seem too bad, no cuts or bleeding, just a few bruises that would heal in a little while. But from the bump on his head, he would have a shitter of a headache when he woke up.

Definitely not in the mood to head back to the hospital, Giles trotted to a call box about 20 yards away and dialled 911. When he got through, he gave the position he found them and their condition and hung up. Getting back to his car, Giles drove about a hundred yards to where some other cars were parked and stopped, far enough away not to be connected to the scene but close enough to observe. 

He drove away when the ambulance arrived.

*

Reaching a large intersection in the sewer, Xander cautiously looked around to see if Angelus had left any little presents for him. Seeing none, however, he found the service ladder for the pipe and slid down holding tightly enough for the ladder to slow his fall yet loosely enough to not take too long about it.

Landing, Xander dropped into a crouch to examine his surroundings from the new angle. He only just succeeded in stopping the soldier from rolling him out of the way of the ladder and right into the sewer water. Giving his body to one of his 'freeloading' personalities allowed the other to gain control more easily, it seemed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Angel's duster flapping down one of the sewer tunnels leading further into the maze of Sunnydale's sewer system.

_Shit! I let him get further in and it's gonna be fucking impossible to find the bastard!_ Xander, throwing caution to the winds took off after Angelus like all the demons of hell were behind him. 

Which, when you looked down the tunnel that Xander had just come out of, was a relatively accurate description. Unfortunately, Xander didn't have the sense to check his six.

*

With Willows new 'powers' she had an inkling of trouble, in advance of when it came, bordering on precognition. So when a car nearly ran her over with the speed it was going, she was shocked to see that it was Oz at the wheel. Deciding that when the problem with Xander and Angelus was over, she would start searching for Oz and find out what was the matter.

She had no idea that Oz had been turned or was heading for New York, but she would when she began on the problem.

For now, she had to ensure that Xander survived what he had set out to do.

*

Xander, in the mean time had turned round to check his six. What he saw nearly gave him a heart attack.

Fuck! There are more bloody demons following me than Buffy has fought in the whole of her 'career' as the Vampire Slayer. I am so fucked.

Even as he was thinking this, however, his soldier was taking over from the Hyena and pulling his pistol. 

_I hope these fuckers go down with phosphor bullets. _Muttered his soldier.

Firing a single shot from his pistol, Xander hit the lead demon, which was possibly the ugliest shit he had ever seen, surpassing even the Master, right smack in the head, between the eyes. The demon dropped and tripped the nearest demons behind him with it's writhing round on the floor. 

But it didn't die. 

Nevertheless, Xander didn't have time to worry about him as the scores of other demons were just trampling it in their rush to get at Xander. Unloading the remaining eleven rounds into different demons, some of which obviously died from them, Xander started to back off against the sheer numbers.

Jamming his one remaining clip into the SOCOM, Xander continued unloading rounds at his opponents. Swearing like a trooper when the clip jammed on the fifth round, he turned tail and ran, trying to clear the stoppage. When it was obvious that the pistol was fucked, and would never work again, Xander discarded it. 

_Kid, when using phosphor rounds, most pistols can only fire 15 rounds at most before some sort of fuck up, it's the phosphor, it jams the slide mechanism, _his soldier told Xander _you were lucky to have it last that long. Don't get greedy, and don't engage those things at close range, that first one you dropped had enough spikes to make Sonic look like a cuddly rabbit._

Xander reached the end of the tunnel only to be caught unaware by Angelus' arm, which was sticking out. Xander ran into it at full speed and dropped like a stone. Angel's arm didn't even move.

The last thing Xander saw was Angelus picking him up by an ankle and pulling him through the sewer muck. With the lack of oxygen under the sewer water, and the smell above it, Xander blacked out.

*

Oz drove down the road that lead into New York at a flat out 140 mph, a few minutes back he had passed a sign saying 'Welcome to Westchester, New York' and underneath 'drive careful, the NY Way' he had a coughing fit for nearly a minute holding back the huge laugh that comment entailed. 

He wasn't really worried about cops, as the car was stolen anyway, and hell, he was a vamp. No cop would be able to touch him, and unless the cops shot for his head, they had no hope in hell of killing him. The best they would be able to manage would be a slight flesh wound.

No. The first order of the day was food. Or in Oz's case, a warm, off tap drink, enhanced with vitamins and minerals.

*

Xander awoke with a pounding headache. His vision swimming slowly around, making all of the surrounding area seem slightly unreal.

It was unreal.

Well, for the normal everyday person who didn't believe in ghosts and demons, or the horrors they could commit. The table Xander realised he was strapped to was placed in the middle of a room, which in turn had walls that were covered all around with dead or near-dead bodies of what looked like they may have once been people. 

            Some had been skinned alive, another had been crucified on a huge wooden cross and had had a cross shape carved into his chest directly above where his heart would have been.

Xander lapsed back to unconsciousness.

*

Giles felt vaguely guilty about not staying with the two hurt teens he had found, but common sense prevailed and reminded him that if he had stayed then he would have had to answer lots of police questions. The police didn't like him, as it was; a school librarian who had an unhealthy obsession with gory murders. That's what they thought of him.

Giles decided to go to the Sunnydale Ripper stash to see what Xander had taken. Just out of interest. After all, most of the military equipment would be gone if Xander still had the 'soldier' in him, as it would be more comfortable wielding known weapons.

Getting to the stash, Giles was not surprised on inspection of the stash that most of the more archaic weapons had been left, while all of the military hardware had gone. The only non-military equipment missing was a few vials of Holy water and some oak stakes. Satisfied, Giles left to go home.

*

When Xander next awoke from the personal hell his subconscious gave him, he opened his eyes to Angelus' leering face.

"That is definitely not a picture to wake up to." Muttered Xander, instantly wishing he had not opened his mouth when Angel quickly drove his fist into his gut. Xander's stomach heaved and he lost what small amount of food he had left in it.

"Now, now, Xander." Snarled Angelus "it's not a good idea to insult the host. Especially when the host holds the key to a fast death or an unimaginably slow and painful one."

"What, no third option?" Xander's strained attempt at humour got him another punch for his trouble.

"Ya, know, Xander." Said Angelus cheerfully as he walked over to a table and picked up what appeared to be a railroad spike, "I really" his voice turned dark and venomous "hate your jokes!" Angelus punctuated the final word with trusting the railroad spike trough Xander's left shoulder.

Xander screamed raggedly at the pain that erupted in his shoulder.

"I thought Spike was the one who used those?" he quipped weakly when the pain subsided slightly.

"Who do ya think taught him, Xander? The tooth fairy?" sneered Angelus "But ya know, if you can keep your sense of humour even with this," Angelus waved at the spike "in your shoulder, you can laugh at anything! I want to see you laughing when I carve your little girlfriend up, 'cause, ya know, it ain't had to tell you love Buffy more than anything."

"Maybe once." Replied Xander, "not anymore. I don't have the hots for the necrophiliac Slayer anymore." The last sentence was snarled to disguise the pain, but even Xander could tell it was there more to try convincing himself than stating fact.

Angelus chuckled. "Yeah. It must kill you that I got there first." He thrust his face close to Xander's, "she screamed my name as she came. I introduced her to womanhood." Angelus' voice became lascivious "She willingly gave me her maidenhead. Wanted no other. Well, I took it. Remember Xander, no prizes for second place." Angelus roared with laughter and strolled out to leave Xander alone with his thoughts.

*

Barely slipping into unconsciousness gave Xander the release from pain that he needed. When he reached a painless place in his head, he discovered that the Hyena and 'soldier-boy' had been there for some time and were just waiting for him to join them.

_You were so set on pissing off Angelus that we couldn't get through the barriers you had erected to seal off the pain. _Said the soldier.

_Pain. Do not anger the soulless one more than necessary. He is stronger than you._ Offered the Hyena.

_He's right, kid, _said the soldier, _when a frontal assault does not succeed, if y'all still alive then change for stealth. Get him when he ain't ready. Use someone as bait, and then fuck him over._

Xander was too gone to really understand most of this. Then the Hyena made a suggestion. 

Shall one of us take over when Angelus comes back? It will give you the rest you need.

Xander understood that. 

_Please, _he replied, _please._

The Hyena took control.

*

Angelus swaggered back into the room, with a huge grin on his face. Seeing Xander, or what he assumed to be Xander, hanging from the manacles limply, with his eyes shut, Angelus thought to give him a rude awakening.

The blood had stopped flowing from around the spike in Xander's shoulder, and Angelus gripped it tightly then savagely pulled it out. Expecting a scream of pain from Xander, Angelus was taken aback when he laughed maniacally instead. This was the Hyena masking its cries. 

When Angelus stepped close to Xander, he leapt back at the savage snarl and wide eyes of Xander. He was even more taken aback when Xander lunged against his bonds to try snapping at him.

Thinking that he had driven Xander insane, Angelus laughed and ordered a minion to see that Xander did not bleed to death. _ After all, _thought Angelus, _it would be very amusing to see Buffy and Willow when they see what I have done to Xander. It would be the beginning of the end for the Slayer. A descent into madness, what a lovely way to go. Should I turn her, like I turned Dru? Perfect._

*

The vampire who had been ordered to see to Xander had been a surgeon in life, and had been turned by Angelus on one of his trips to the blood bank in the hospital. He had strict instructions to not feed on Xander, or he would be bathed in Holy water. To fix Xander's shoulder better he made sure that Xander was unconscious and undid the shackles holding him to the table.

The Hyena let him. All the dead bodies on the floor and walls allowed a lot of rubbish to accumulate and no one to notice. Added to the fact that when Angelus had brought him here, he stripped him but not completely. Most of his kit, the important remaining parts anyway, were over in the corner, in a pile. The Hyena positioned a large piece of wood, splintered from the table probably, under his hand, ready to stab the vampire.

The vamp surgeon disinfected the wound, and wrapped it in roll after roll of surgical gauze. Then stuck small plasters over the lesser wounds. Fortunately there were no sprains. The vamp sat back on his haunches, to eye its work. Even in death, the surgeon still ruled, even if the Hippocratic oath had gone down the pan.

The Hyena struck. Flipping the makeshift stake, he drove his arm forward as fast as possible, lodging the stake in the vampires unbeating heart. The vamp snarled and looked down surprised, before mouthing: why? Then he burst into dust.

The Hyena gently stood up and almost staggered to Xander's equipment. Shrugging into the camouflage gear and Kevlar vest, the soldier took over. He checked that there was enough C4 left to do the job and planted a couple in the torture room, on a 15-minute timer.

Then the soldier and Hyena worked together to get out of the sewer, planting C4 as they went. As they reached a manhole, Xander checked his watch: 1 minute left.

Xander climbed up the ladder and lifted the manhole cover open, enough to squeeze out, but small enough to shut it again quickly. The final C4 charge he put on a 7 second fuse but did not activate it.

Placing his face in the gap, Xander called out "Angelus! Here boy!"

Angelus heard the call and ran for the sound. He was there in 20 seconds, to see Xander's face peering in through a partially open manhole. He stepped into the small amount of light growling. "Xander, come back down here and I promise I'll kill you quickly."

"Sorry, nothing doing, Angelus." Xander head withdrew.

When the time remaining on the other charges was 10 seconds by his watch, Xander started the timer on the charge in his hand.

For Angelus, a small cuboid package falling in the manhole was accompanied by Xander's voice saying "Merry Christmas, Deadboy."

The manhole cover ground shut.

And the world was filled with fire.

*

After Xander booted shut the manhole cover, he ran as fast as his protesting legs could carry him. As soon as a dull rumble told him that the first charges had gone up early started he flung himself to the floor. The other charges went up in sequence, the final one being the one next to Angelus. It sent the manhole cover soaring into the sky, flying upwards about 40 feet, before coming crashing down on the tarmac road about 10 feet from the manhole it started from.

"Burn in Hell, you son of a bitch." Both his soldier and Hyena echoed this sentiment.

"Fuck, Buffy's gonna be pissed when she finds out I blew her boyfriend up. Like killing me, pissed. I'm gonna have to make myself scarce in Sunnydale."

Xander limped off, away from Sunnydale, stopping only to say bye to Giles and explain and apologise for making half of Sunnydale start to subside from the sewer being collapsed.

*

Xander was right. Buffy was 'killing him' pissed. Only Giles obsession with a new nasty from the Hellmouth and Willow's staunch defence of what Xander did, stopped her from starting a countrywide manhunt.

She'll get over it eventually.

*

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End

*

Right. That's the end of the 'introduction' of Journey of Discovery. It was meant to be about 6000 words. Oh well. The further chapters may appear eventually. Each 'chapter' will probably be 3-5 sections long and will focus solely on one person rather than swapping P.O.V like this one. Believe it or not this was meant to focus on Xander, and have almost no other views from others in at all. I.E: Oz dies and Willow stays in a coma.

Cheers to all my reviewers.

Ciao! Paradigm Shifter.

Note: I'm about to start editing this again, as I'm unhappy with some areas. I'm bad at updating, so bear with me. Its going to be a complete rewrite, to make it what it was originally intended to be.

**Final all important note:** I have written the first two chapter of a new story I'm currently working on, to the exclusion of all others. It likewise is Xander centric, but has B/X in it! I finally managed to get the two characters to mesh in one of my storylines! Woohoo!


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